Today on Seattle's KOMO-TV, I stopped by the set of Northwest Afternoon to present some Valentine's Day gift ideas ... of the gadget sort. Check out the video and scroll down for more information!

See the full video of the show here.

Drop me an email if you have questions, or want additional information about anything you see listed here.

VholdR Wearable Helmet Camera – Twenty20

I've always wanted a video camera to capture my poor snowboarding skills. This tiny digital camcorder – by a local Seattle firm -- is just 4 ounces and is super-simple to operate. The one-button record can be operated with gloves on and the clever mounting system allows it to slide on to your helmet…. Making this the perfect way to capture your downhill or mountainbike adventures. Connect the camera to your computer and share video quickly and easily… but my favorite feature? A laser guidance system that helps you ensure your shot is lined up – at least until I fall down again.

Price: $349

Available: Now.

Details: http://www.vholdr.com/shoot/camera/overview

by Lance Ulanoff

LAS VEGAS— Telling someone you conquered the half pipe or skied Murder's Curve is not even half as good as showing them. Showing it to them from your perspective is not only cool, but thrilling. That's the concept behind VholdR ($350). It's a palm-sized camcorder that attaches to any flat surface or, more likely, your bicycle-, skateboarding-, or ski helmet to record dynamic, point of view video.
 
People have been holding cameras as they ride skate boards and hang ten for years, but this water-proof camera is hands free. The camera's detachable base mount affixes to almost any surface, curved (like a helmet) or flat thanks to a powerful glue. Then grooved channels on the camera marry with those on the base mount. Instead of an LCD view finder, VholdR uses dual lasers to line up a shot. You hit a button on the back of the camera and for five seconds, two tiny, red laser dots appear on whatever you're shooting. Once the camera's on the helmet, it can shoot for 2 hours on its lithium ion battery. You can also rotate the camera, via a ring on the lens 192 degrees to shoot your subject at almost any angle. Additional mounts are available for $19 a piece, so you can use the camera for any number of extreme outdoor activities.

The camera captures 640 by 480 AVI video at 30 frames per second to a 2 GB micro SD card. There's also a USB port. In either case, users can upload the video to VholdR's proprietary PC-based software (no Mac support for now), tag it, organize it and eventually share it on the VHoldR's community website.

VholdR is shipping direct right now and should be available in retail outlets in March.

By Brian M. Westbrook
Twenty20 introduces VholdR wearable camera at CES

It all started four years ago as frustrated students at the University of Washington. 

Disenchanted with a lack of cameras for capturing action on the slopes, avid skiers and undergrads Marc Barros and Jason Green set out to make it easier. The result of a UW business plan competition, their first product was a $250 helmet camera connected to a backpack-worn camera.  

They sold 7,000 units.

The semi-portable solution wasn't convenient enough (who wants to carry a backpack full of camcorders and cables, anyway?) and had joined with a newfound desire to share videos on the web. With stacks of tapes from winter adventures waiting to be posted online, the always-challenged pair knew they could make the process easer.

A year and much effort later, the VholdR is being shown for the first time here at CES.  A rugged camera about the size of a mobile phone, this new gadget easily mounts to handlebars, helmets - just about anywhere.  With an integrated recording device, the VholdR requires no camcorder, no backpack, and no cables to operate.  

"We've put in one box, for $350 retail, the ability to shoot and share video," said Co-founder and company CEO Marc Burros. "You can go from camera to community in a couple of steps."

When I caught up with founders Marc and Jason on day three of the show, the smile on each of their faces said it all. The collective expression told me they were proud. Years of hard work to get to here paid off and - perhaps just a bit- the long days on the show floor were starting to run their course.

"We hoped that when we showed up here we'd have something different," Green said of pre-show expectations. "The reaction has been a lot of open mouths and big eyes.  People are excited about the possibility of a wearable camcorder."

These reactions range from those who who experience the camera range from disbelief (I was in the "can they really do that?" camp myself) to suggestions for new ways to use the product. 

The VholdR received an International CES Innovations Honoree Award (an official sort of "best in show" awards) earlier this week and when I personally saw how simple it was to use, I appreciated why.

Capturing video is as simple as sliding a large, oversized on/off switch on the top of the camera.  Dual indicator lights display Micro SD-style storage space availability and battery life on the rear.  The body rotates 192-degrees and two small lasers on either side of the lens help ensure the camera is level (until, if you're like me on a snowboard, you fall on your bum).

Transferring videos from the camera to the web is doe via. a USB cable and bundled software.  Videos are posted on VholdR.com for easy sharing, or can be transferred to other devices (yes, that includes the iPod).

CEO Barros explains of the CES experience, "When you come here, you compete with booths that are half the size of a football field and you have a 10 foot by 20 foot booth.  Everybody competes almost at the same level despite your booth size."

It may not be the largest booth here at CES, but they've got the smallest camcorder. And for Seattle's Marc and Jason, plenty to be proud of.

For the tech-savvy:  The camera captures 640x480 video and stores as an iPod-friendly MP4 file. The battery lasts about 2 hours and the camera weighs just 4.8 ounces.  $350, available online at http://www.vholdr.com

Flash for the Action Cam

By: Audrey Gray 

I saw him across a press-packed room, a young man with shoe-polish black hair and eyebrows, manning a small table with a small sign and a small camera, just one among dozens of vendors pitching products that night at the CES preview show in New York. (CES, the Everest of tech shows, opens January 7th in Vegas). But this kid seemed a little hungrier than most, something about the way he was shooting out shy smiles and intermittently bouncing up on his toes. I was intrigued enough to approach (no, not to flirt, though I did try to set him up with an equally bouncy PR rep from Samsung later in the evening).

Turns out, he’s an inventor. Ever spent time with an inventor? They’re this rare subset of humankind determined to get jet packs working while the rest of us scrounge the bottom of our bags for stray subway tokens. High octane personalities to a one.

The story of Marc Barros: three years ago, he was a ski bum slash undergrad at the University of Washington in Seattle. He and a good friend, Jason Green, wanted to quickly shoot and upload thriller videos of themselves doing life-threatening moves on the slopes (in the age of online social networking, differentiation is critical). But, as their website now explains, they had camcorder troubles: “extreme environmental conditions killed the cameras, and the fast-paced action threatened to kill the athletes who fiddled with their camera controls.” So these two guys started rigging up experimental helmet cams and talking to a design group in Portland about creating a light, hands-free video recorder with just one button, the ON one. Three years later, they’ve produced both the microSD-loaded VholdR camcorder, which just won a CES Innovations ‘08 Design Award, and their own new company, Twenty 20, to promote it.

Truth be told, the VholdR isn’t the first flash memory action cam. Oregon Scientific, Samsung, and Logitech all have their own helmet-ready models. Marc’s is a fierce little competitor,though. Imagine what this guy will be doing by the time he’s, I don’t know, 25!

Marc actually reminds me of another camera inventor, Oscar-winning Renaissance man Garrett Brown, who created the Steadicam in the 70’s. When Garrett’s not collecting patents (50 and counting) for FlyCams, DiveCams, MobyCams, and SuperFlyCams, he writes and makes music. Check out this bit from his treatise on the creative process:

There is an anticipatory interval, brief or long, in the course of inventing something desirable, that resembles the pre-coital interval (brief or long) in a sexual relationship.  I have learned, over the years, to savor it as one of the more satisfying pure contemplations in life.  (“The Joy of Inventing” would be laying it on a bit thick, but the foreplay, at least, can be euphoric.) ...Intrigued by an unsolved problem, a missing something, a ‘gap’ in life, you may or may not have considered trying to ‘invent’ something; but once an idea, a possible solution, a plausible answer beckons, it will flicker at the back of your head, drawing your attention to itself, like a distant match-flame.  And from that moment on, so help me, endorphins and peptides analogous to the sexual kind, and pheromones from the Muse herself will bind to the old morphine-receptors in your brain to reward thinking about it.

Garrett says we can get that high by paying attention to our own “bin of whims.” I say a mindset that luscious deserves its own Innovations Award.

On the go with a camcorder
BY J.D. BIERSDORFER NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

Many digital video cameras fit comfortably in the palm of your hand. But sometimes you need your hands for other things, like steering a bike.

The VholdR camcorder from Twenty20 lets you skip the hand-holding by clipping it right onto handlebars, helmets or goggles to record action video as you see it.

The VholdR, which weighs 4.8 ounces, records TV-quality video to a MicroSD card.

It can record about two hours of video on a battery charge, and comes with a USB cable and desktop software to watch, tag and share your videos on the Web.

The camcorder is encased in a brushed aluminum body with a grooved base designed to fit a camera mount. It costs $350, and is available for pre-order at vholdr.com.

Although a note on the site says the next batch of cameras will not ship until after the holidays, you should be able to get it in time to record a few runs on your mid-winter ski trip.

The invention of the 'Granthony Cam'.

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) December 10, 2007 -- Seattle Internet startup Twenty20's newest product, VholdR, is set to officially debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on January 7, 2008. But, a limited quantity of the wearable, hands-free video cameras are already leaving the factory and heading for customers. One VholdR "hit the road" just after Thanksgiving with Twenty20's Anthony Godoy, to meet up with athletes who will put the camera to the test and invent new ways to use it.

That's how the "Granthony Cam" was invented.

On the slopes near Park City, Utah, Anthony Godoy, of Twenty20, and Graham Watanabe, of the U.S. Snowboard Team, invented and tested the "Granthony Cam." The Granthony Cam mechanism enabled the very lightweight VholdR to freely circle around Watanabe as he moved down the slope, yielding a surreal, 360-degree, "Surround-Me" view of the action. The amazing video, set to music, is posted online at: www.vholdr.com/news/?cat=6

"This is exactly what we want to see happen," says Twenty20 CEO Marc Barros. "Our video sharing site will be unique, because the videos that VholdR owners will upload will be unique. The community of people on our Web site will be sharing something special: videos episodes from inside the action--their experiences from their point of view. And, the elegant simplicity of VholdR unleashes creativity. We expect to see some amazing videos. This is just the first one!"

Twenty20's VholdR (www.VholdR.com) weighs just a few ounces, fits in the palm of your hand, but it's armored: with its brushed aluminum body the camera works in rain, snow, and mud. VholdR records video to an internal SD card. Small grooves on VholdR's body are designed to couple with various mounts so the camera can be used anywhere -- or even worn. A single on/off button makes VholdR the ultimate in simplicity to use, even with gloved hands. Easy-to-use software quickly organizes the video and offers a "Click-to-Share" option to post the video online.

And the Granthony Cam? Twenty20's Godoy explains: "Our idea started as an offhand remark, which started the two of us thinking seriously about it. As the idea gained momentum, we looked at each other and realized we had one hell of a workable concept, and we made a beeline to Home Depot where we theorized and schemed. Two hours later, the design was a reality."

Parts? The Granthony Cam is constructed of a skateboard wheel, some PVC pipe, a driveway marker, some screws, a bolt, some washers and some nuts and Gorilla Tape.

After seeing the incredible videos made by Watanabe using the Granthony Cam, Godoy said: "I couldn't sleep, imagining all the videos we could make with this thing!"

Seattle-based Internet startup Twenty20 invents easy ways to "Shoot and Share" video in motion. Twenty20 products are sold through a network of sports retailers and also online. For more information visit www.VholdR.com.

Contact: Marc Barros, CEO, Twenty20 Inc., Seattle, WA, 866-397-6920, marc @ twenty20corp.com, http://www.vholdr.com

Amazing 'Surround-Me' Video: VholdR on the Head of Graham Watanabe of the US Snowboard Team 

Seattle Internet startup Twenty20's newest product, VholdR, is set to officially debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on January 7, 2008. But, a limited quantity of the wearable, hands-free video cameras are already leaving the factory and heading for customers. One VholdR "hit the road" just after Thanksgiving with Twenty20's Anthony Godoy, to meet up with athletes who will put the camera to the test and invent new ways to use it.

That's how the "Granthony Cam" was invented.

On the slopes near Park City, Utah, Anthony Godoy, of Twenty20, and Graham Watanabe, of the U.S. Snowboard Team, invented and tested the "Granthony Cam." The Granthony Cam mechanism enabled the very lightweight VholdR to freely circle around Watanabe as he moved down the slope, yielding a surreal, 360-degree, "Surround-Me" view of the action. The amazing video, set to music, is posted online at: www.vholdr.com/news/?cat=6

"This is exactly what we want to see happen," says Twenty20 CEO Marc Barros. "Our video sharing site will be unique, because the videos that VholdR owners will upload will be unique. The community of people on our Web site will be sharing something special: videos episodes from inside the action--their experiences from their point of view. And, the elegant simplicity of VholdR unleashes creativity. We expect to see some amazing videos. This is just the first one!"

Twenty20's VholdR (www.VholdR.com) weighs just a few ounces, fits in the palm of your hand, but it's armored: with its brushed aluminum body the camera works in rain, snow, and mud. VholdR records video to an internal SD card. Small grooves on VholdR's body are designed to couple with various mounts so the camera can be used anywhere -- or even worn. A single on/off button makes VholdR the ultimate in simplicity to use, even with gloved hands. Easy-to-use software quickly organizes the video and offers a "Click-to-Share" option to post the video online.

And the Granthony Cam? Twenty20's Godoy explains: "Our idea started as an offhand remark, which started the two of us thinking seriously about it. As the idea gained momentum, we looked at each other and realized we had one hell of a workable concept, and we made a beeline to Home Depot where we theorized and schemed. Two hours later, the design was a reality."

Parts? The Granthony Cam is constructed of a skateboard wheel, some PVC pipe, a driveway marker, some screws, a bolt, some washers and some nuts and Gorilla Tape.

After seeing the incredible videos made by Watanabe using the Granthony Cam, Godoy said: "I couldn't sleep, imagining all the videos we could make with this thing!"

Seattle-based Internet startup Twenty20 invents easy ways to "Shoot and Share" video in motion. Twenty20 products are sold through a network of sports retailers and also online. For more information visit www.VholdR.com.

Contact: Marc Barros, CEO, Twenty20 Inc., Seattle, WA, 866-397-6920, marc @ twenty20corp.com, http://www.vholdr.com

Twenty20’s Wearable, Hands-Free Video Camera Meets Up with Action Sports Athletes in Tough Environments; First VholdR Videos Posted Online

Seattle, WA — Seattle Internet startup Twenty20’s newest product, VholdR, is set to officially debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on January 7, 2008. But, a limited quantity of the wearable, hands-free video cameras are already leaving the factory and heading for customers. One VholdR “hit the road” just after Thanksgiving with Twenty20’s Anthony Godoy, to meet up with action sports athletes who will put the first cameras to the test in tough environments. The VholdR “road trip” videos will be posted online at www.vholdr.com/news/?cat=5.

“VholdR is tough,” says Godoy, “So why baby it? Out on the road it goes to do its job: capturing and sharing the excitement of action video!”

Twenty20’s VholdR (www.VholdR.com) weighs just a few ounces, fits in the palm of your hand, but it’s armored: with its brushed aluminum body the camera works in rain, snow, and mud. VholdR records video to an internal SD card. Small grooves on VholdR’s body are designed to couple with various mounts so the camera can be used anywhere–or even worn. A single on/off button makes VholdR the ultimate in simplicity to use, even with gloved hands. Easy-to-use software quickly organizes the video and offers a “Click-to-Share” option to post the video online.

For years, sports enthusiasts captured video in motion with helmet cams–a nice name for a mess of lenses, wires, and batteries strapped to their heads. The heavy and unbalanced contraptions were cumbersome, and always expensive. Sharing the video online didn’t risk life or limb, but it did require hours of tedious editing and uploading. The target of the uploaded video was usually a social networking Web site, where friends and family could watch the recorded athletic exploits in awe–and safety.

“Now,” says Barros, “VholdR’s ‘Hands-free Shoot, Click-to-Share’ design will make shooting and sharing video in motion easy for everyone, even the Dad who wants to record the excited faces of his family from the front seat of the corkscrew roller coaster.”

But, to test VholdR’s prowess, the first videos will come from some extreme environments:

• On November 23-24, VholdR will spend time capturing the action at the Day in the Dirt Motocross Grand Prix, held at the Los Angeles County Raceway. A Day in the Dirt is presented by Troy Lee Designs and Elrod Racing, and hosted by the Hollywood Stunt and Film Community. The unique Grand Prix course includes asphalt, a huge pit to drop into and fly out of, and a motocross track designed for maximum thrills.

• On November 29, VholdR meets Ryan Clark near Waddell, Arizona. Clark, a member of the Solitaire motocross team, recently added his name to the prestigious Montreal Supercross winner’s list.

• On December 1, VholdR will arrive in Moab, Utah, for some four-wheeling in Pritchett Canyon, some biking through the canyons, and to catch the action of free-climbing some red rock walls.

• On December 3-5, VholdR arrives at the headquarters of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USAA) in Park City, Utah. The USAA is an Olympic sports organization dedicated to fielding the best skiing and snowboarding teams in the world. VholdR will catch up with some of them and hit the moguls.

• On December 7, VholdR will catch up with Daron Rahlves at Sugar Bowl, near Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Widely regarded as the most successful American downhill speed ski-racer of all time, Rahlves should capture some exhilarating VholdR video.

• On December 12-13, Vholdr will be in Portland, Oregon. In-town bike riding is one the agenda, with a visit to the ski and snowboarding slopes at Mount Hood.

“We are posting all of the first-ever VholdR videos online,” explains Barros, “so that people can see the quality of VholdR video, and the merits of it’s rugged, hands-free design. VholdR was designed to shoot and share exciting action video. This is only the beginning. Our video sharing site will be unique, because the videos our camera owners will upload will be unique. The community of people on our Web site will be sharing something special: videos episodes from inside the action–their experiences from their point of view. We expect to see some amazing things.”

VholdR will ship with “Click-to-Share” software that automatically uploads video to the Twenty20 Web site and YouTube. Twenty20’s video sharing Web site, VholdR.com, is expected to be as unique as it’s camera.

Seattle-based Internet startup Twenty20 invents easy ways to “Shoot and Share” video in motion. Twenty20 products are sold through a network of sports retailers and also online. For more information, visit www.VholdR.com.