Monsterpod: Stick Your (small) Camera Almost Anywhere

I love gadgets, especially useful ones.  That love is doubled when the device is reasonably priced.  And gadgets that are useful, reasonably priced and related to video put me over the top.  So you can imagine my interest when a fellow member of a video discussion list turned me on to the MonsterPod, which fills all three categories well.

At first glance, the MonsterPod looks like an orange and black nylon-mesh suction cup, with a 1/4” tripod screw mounted in the middle.  It’s once you flip it over that you find the magic ingredient - a large blob of what looks like orange Silly Putty, what the MonsterPod makers call “PodGoo.”  You wouldn’t think something this seemingly simple could stick to just about any surface - but you would be wrong. 

Basically, applying the MonsterPod involves shaping and bending the cup and PodGoo to conform to the rough contours of the surface you want to stick your camera to.  And the list isn’t limited to just flat surfaces - the MonsterPod sticks to poles, rocks, dashboards, cement, you name it.  As long as the surface isn’t wet, made of fabric, too greasy or too dirty, it’s a good bet that MonsterPod will adhere to it, at least for a while.  A good firm press - even on vertical surfaces or upside down - will fasten the MonsterPod in place.  The makers recommend a maximum 10 minutes of attachment at a time, but as long as it isn’t overloaded I can see the hold lasting longer.

Live From NAB:  A Video Helicopter For $300?

I love the odd finds at NAB.  You can get highly sophisticated massage chairs, straps that keep your spine straight, a brain massager fetchingly named “The Tingler” and more, but at least the DigitTronics video helicopter might conceivably qualify as a video tool.  The one on sale here features counter-rotating lift blades (no tail rotor), 2.4Ghz wireless control, and a tiny wireless video camera that has a claimed range of 1000 feet (best practice:  divide that by 10.)  Still, for a show special price of $299, it had a long line of potential pilots pulling out the plastic.

I’ve been flying radio-controlled fixed-wing planes for quite a while, and the one piece of wisdom I can offer is this:

“You can trim a plane to fly itself, but a copter is always trying to kill you.”

But give it a shot.  I might.

PS:  Don’t hate me for the video - I shot it with a Canon still camera.

Live from NAB:  The Numbers Are In

According to an NAB mailing entitled “Organizers deem NAB Show a success despite tough economy”....

FTA: 

“Attendance for this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas is 83,842 compared the roughly roughly 104,000 for the 2008 edition. But organizers called the event a “phenomenal success” given the down state of the economy. “We appreciate the strong support of both exhibitors and attendees who continue to make The NAB Show the most important annual event for the electronic media marketplace,” NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said.

Well, it certainly could have been worse.  I actually enjoyed having less competition to see products, but I doubt that is the attitude of many exibitors.

If You Are In the Las Vegas Convention Center And Hungry…

If you eat in the LVCC, you are going to pay thru the nose.  That’s just the way it is.  Better to spend your dough on some decent, Kosher deli, right?  Uncle Joel and Darryl’s New York Deli is located near the back end of the Central Hall.  I paid about $14 for a enormous Reuben, potato salad, a pickle and a drink.  Not free, to be sure, but you can spend a lot more and get a lot less, I assure you!  Highly recommended.

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