The Pure Digital Flip Video line of pocket camcorders (see previous Flip posts) continues to demonstrate the attraction of small and easy-to-use devices for shooting video -- Flip Video models were ranked as the top two best-selling camcorders in the U.S. for the first quarter 2009, according to The NPD Group.
The Flip Video cams fit in your pocket, turn on instantly, and have simple controls -- just push the big red button to start recording. And then to access your clips, the Flips have a pop-out USB connector to hook up directly to your computer, and built-in FlipShare software for PCs and Macs on board the camcorder -- so you don't need a separate install, you can just run it directly from the device to view, organize, and share your videos.
The FlipShare software already provided simple video editing to make your own movies, and then share via e-mail and also by uploading directly to MySpace or YouTube. And Flip Video has just updated the FlipShare software to now share your videos through Flip Channels -- your own personal video collections shared on the web (at FlipShare.com), or with the new free FlipShare iPhone application.
You can create collections of clips from your FlipShare library, upload them as custom Flip Channels, and then share them with friends and family (by sending the link to list of e-mail addresses).
Much as with the growth of photo-sharing websites that would like to host your photo collections, we're seeing more options for hosting videos online as well, from video-centric sites like YouTube to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. While photo and video editing tools are adding support for uploading to these popular sites, they are also building more tightly integrated connections to their own dedicated sites, like Adobe Elements and Photoshop.com (see previous post). Similarly, the FlipShare.com site follows the simplicity approach of the Flip Video products by focusing on organizing fun collections of video to share with various groups.
The new 4.5 version of FlipShare software can be downloaded for free from the Flip Video support site, and will begin shipping as the on-board software for all Flip Video camcorders as of today. The FlipShare for iPhone application will be available for free in the iPhone App Store.
Check the Flip site to compare the Flip products
See my Digital Camcorders Gallery for more on the Flip line and digital camcoders.
Find the Flip Mino and MinoHD on Amazon.com
Find the 2nd-gen Flip Ultra and UltraHD on Amazon.com