We have witnessed the rise of YouTube as a method to savagely inflict your home videos on relatives without first trapping them in said home. Unfortunately, huge quantities of schlock never make it onto the internet because the arcane arts of video codecs and bitrates scare even the boldest of would-be directors. Flip Video has been changing that, though - their Ultra series camcorder delivers an incredibly simple experience, producing files that are ready to upload from an attractively small and affordably priced unit. Despite my deep love of high-definition video, I lusted after the Ultra for many moons, satisfied only when I convinced a friend to buy one so that I could play with it. Now that lust has been renewed, with a vengeance: Meet the Flip Mino.

Functionally, the Mino is very similar to the Ultra; video quality is the same (640×480 @ 30fps). The unit has storage for 60 minutes of footage. The device, however, is 40% smaller, and just generally looks sleeker - sleek enough to reignite my lust. This time, though, I think I’ll buy it myself.

Get a Flip Mino in black or white for $180 at Amazon.

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology — Max @ 10:00 pm