Video conferencing cameras generally aren’t the most exciting devices out there, but Pixavi certainly looks to be a decent job of standing out from the pack with its new Xcaster ST 5000 camera, which packs some built-in WiFi (802.11n, no less) and about as catch-all a feature set as most anyone could ask for. That includes HD video recording using the h.264 codec, a 4x optical zoom, MEMS image stabalization, a “high resolution” touchscreen, built-in Bluetooth to accommodate a wireless headset, 16GB of onboard flash plus both SD and CompactFlash card slots, a full range of line-in and AV-out ports, and a promised six hours of use from the camera’s 6600 Ah battery, to name just a few features

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Pixavi announces wireless Xcaster ST 5000 video conferencing camera

This week’s elevator pitch comes from Valu Valu, an online marketplace for video games whose prices are based on dynamic scientific pricing, creating the optimal price for both the seller and the buyer. The pitch was concise and outlined the service the the site is delivering well, but didn’t tell us how Valu Valu will make money. After doing a little bit of research, we discovered that Valu Valu charges a 5 percent transaction fee on the total purchases (there’s no transaction fee charged to “local” transactions). The site currently features video games but plans to expand to other markets in the future.

Founded by ex-Microsoft techies Emmanuel Marot and Bruno Botvinik, Valu Valu uses a proprietary scientific pricing algorithm that continuously optimizes prices based on market conditions, a.k.a. supply and demand, so that buyers are happy with prices of goods (and thus will make purchases) and sellers make more money. The seller’s price is determined automatically, giving sellers limited control of the price of their goods. Other online marketplaces, like Ebay or Craigslist, allow the seller to determine the price of the item being sold. But Valu Valu’s method saves sellers’ time by establishing a set price, and cuts out haggling or auctioning time.

Of course, Valu Valu will face competition in game sales from popular online retailers like Amazon.com and GameStop’s EB Games. I did a side by side price comparison of the “James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace” game for Playstation 3 between Valu Valu and Amazon. Amazon’s price for a new game came in $10 lower than Valu Valu’s estimate for a brand-new game. The Valu Valu’s product that was actually being sold was “just like new” (which sounds like a nice way of saying used), but even Amazon’s used Bond game were selling more than $10 lower once again.

Valu Valu just launched the beta version in February, so hopefully the start-up will be able to attract more users in the future. I think Valu Valu may be on to something. It seems like an innovative technology that needs to be tinkered with a bit more.

Here’s a screenshot:

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

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Elevator Pitch Friday: Valu Valu Uses A Scientific Pricing Model To Sell Games

Of all the 12.2 megapixel cameras we’ve seen from General Imaging this week , this is certainly one of them.

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GE’s G3WP waterproof point-and-shoot snoozefest

MIT graduate student David Merrill was inspired by building blocks to design computerized blocks called Siftables. They are interactive computers each the size of a cookie and can sense each other and their motion. “Each Siftable has a color OLED screen, four infrared communication modules – one in each direction in the horizontal plane – a 3-axis accelerometer, and a Bluetooth radio,” Merrill explained. The Siftables have many applications including language, math, and logic games for kids. The video demoes the Siftable Music Sequencer where each Siftable represents an instrument or music feature.

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Siftables: another way to make kids smarter than us

Gateway’s been on a roll of late with its bargain-minded laptops, so it’s no shock to see the trend continue with its latest addition to the FX lineup. The P-7808u FX is a 17-incher that’s geared towards multimedia freaks, and aside from the lackluster WXGA panel, the specs aren’t half bad for the price. We’re talkin’ a 2GHz Core 2 Quad CPU, NVIDIA’s GeForce 9800M GTS graphics card (1GB of GDDR3 included), 4GB of DDR3 memory, an 8x dual-layer DVD writer, 500GB SATA hard drive, 5-in-1 multicard reader, a stately nine-cell battery, WiFi, three USB 2.0 sockets, FireWire, eSATA and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. All 9.05 pounds can be ordered up from J&R right now for $1,699.99, and hey, they’ll even cover the shipping

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Gateway slips out 17-inch P-7808u FX multimedia laptop

The problem with distant glimpses of the future is that getting there takes some time. Such is the case with the TCR-2009 Trash Collecting Robot , which is a neat, but primitive robot garbage man.

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This Trash Collecting Robot Isn’t Quite Earth’s Lovable Savior, but Close [Robots]

Ah, the Ocean 2 . The handset Helio loyalists have been clamoring for since, well, forever ago.

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How would you change Helio’s Ocean 2?

The mass media may be enamored of the rags-to-riches stories of developers on Apple’s App Store, but it isn’t the only game in town for indie developers to strike it rich. We’ve gotten word from SocialMedia, a popular ad platform for social network applications, that one of the company’s clients pulled in over $700,000 in advertising revenues from their Facebook apps in December alone. Granted, this was spread over 30+ of the client’s applications, but the company only consists of a handful of (very prolific) developers.

While SocialMedia declined to name the company in question, it confirmed that it was not one of the large social application developers like Playfish, SGN, and Zynga who have raised large funding rounds and have been rumored to pull in over $1 million a month.

The news reaffirms Facebook’s position alongside the iPhone as a place to get rich quick (at least for a lucky few). SocialMedia also notes that it has several other independent clients who are making over $100,000 a month. Of course, such results are uncommon, but no more so than they are on the App Store.

Also worth noting is that these revenues are entirely based on advertising, while most of the success stories we’ve heard on the App Store have been from premium apps. Facebook isn’t likely to unveil its own premium apps any time soon, but if it ever gets around to launching the payment platform it announced last year, these success stories will probably become far more common.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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Some Indie Facebook Developers Pulling In Over $700,000 A Month

We can see it now: the four former members of ‘N Sync (minus Justin Timberlake) showing up in an HP-inspired television spot, their heads cut off from the frame while they individually sing about what how each of their MIDs knows them personally and proceed to show what they can do in a array of spectacle and CG. Suddenly, they all hold their devices next to each other in a two-by-two grid pattern and the four screens become one as their voices, too, join in harmony — which is exactly what Intel touts its newly-developed multi-client display linking can do

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Intel develops multi-computer display linking, the commercial writes itself

Metallica’s Lars Ulrich tries P2P : “I was like, ‘You know what? I’ve gotta try this.’ So we sat there, and thirty minutes later, I had ‘Death Magnetic’ in my computer. It was kind of bizarre.” But that doesn’t mean you should. You’re not Lars Ulrich: “I was like, ‘Wow, this is how it works.’ I figured if there is anybody that has a right to download ‘Death Magnetic’ for free, it’s me.” Still, nice to know that nearly 10 years after his “Napster Bad” days , he’s finally figuring out what exactly he was waging a futile war against.

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Metallica’s Lars "I Hate the Internet" Ulrich Pirates His Own Album [Piracy]