The Flip Mino Makes a Big Leap

It's not that its audio is great, or that it's even especially good for power users. It's not.

Sure, it integrates "Web 2.0" software - - to allow for easy uploading to YouTube, Myspace or AOL Video. But big whoop. It's not like it takes a rocket scientist to upload videos to the web.

What's noteworthy about the Flip Mino (pronounced "minnow") is how this three-ounce, glossy, pocket-sized video camcorder wraps culture, media and high technology together like it was part of a grand plan from on High. Now that it's out in the market, the Flip Mino will drive other manufacturers, designers and technology providers to either match its functionality or do better.

First: Let's be clear. The Flip Mino isn't the first or the best at driving the camcorder form factor to palm size. It's also not the first to integrate it with the social Web. Anyone who has taken a look at Nokia's N95 has seen a device with much better engineering, better video, real time integration with the web (via live video streaming) and many more functions and features.

But for less than half the price of the N95, and with PC integration that's so dumbed-down almost anyone could handle it, the Flip Mino marks a milestone. We are entering the era when Web-based video will be as common or more common than email. (In fact, one of the features of the Flip Mino is that it has simple software pre-loaded to help you create video email.)

Taking a look at the device, it's hard to know whether to be impressed or non-plussed. It delivers what it promises: decent video and audio; easy PC connection via pop-out USB connector; capacity to store an hour of video on its internal memory; and software - - loaded onto the device itself - - that allows the user to view, save, edit, upload or email video clips over the Internet. It also connects directly to televisions. MSRP on the Flip Mino is $179. It works.

The company that makes the Flip Mino, and other products like the Flip Ultra and throw-away still cameras, is Pure Digital Technologies, based in San Francisco. Pure Digital is, in many ways, still getting untracked. (Among the jobs they're seeking to fill is that of "Channel Marketing Manager," for example.) But it's backed by some impressive money; among its private investors are Morgan Stanley Principal Investments, Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Samsung Ventures. It appears there are some big investors expecting big things out of these little cameras.