A couple of weeks ago, I watched (video with sound!!!) this Daily Giz Wiz podcast in which Dick DeBartolo tells Leo Laporte about an amazing camera that he just got. Its disguised as a car remote, and has a 5 MP camera that also shoots 720p video (with sound)! I said, "Hmm, I might actually be able to do something with that." So I ordered one off eBay (that seems to be about the best place to get them in terms of price, I've seen websites selling them for up to $200), and it arrived yesterday. I don't have any good pictures to show, as I haven't played with it enough to get any decent photos (I've got plenty that prove the camera works, but none that I'd be willing to show publicly 'cause they're just of the window and PC). But if you watch the above video, you can see a pretty good sample of what the camera can do. This page has some technical information about the cameras and links to pics and videos people have shot with the things. Lots of folks like slapping them on to RC planes and one guy's working on getting a live feed from the camera mounted in his plane so he can fly it "from" the cockpit, as it were. The cameras are apparently cannibalized from cellphone runs and similar devices made in China (the instructions are just chock full of Engrish, like "Notice: when battery power is not enough, K808 will enter into protection mode, so it cannot be turn on. Now, please charge for it." and "Please use it under agreeable human atmosphere humidity, Please not to make product wet or expose in rain for which without waterproop function."). All in all, its rather amazing what you get for next to nothing in terms of costs. Apparently you can even use the things as a web cam, but the software I can find for that immediately crashes whenever I try to launch it. Still, considering what I paid for it, who the hell cares? Its a nifty ass toy, and that's whats important!
