Kodak's taken the guts of its Zi6 pocket camcorder and uprated them into the new Zx1. It's a candybar-shaped device with Motorola-RAZR-like metal controls and it shoots video at 720p. Those controls are a little curious, but they're probably needed to help the camera earn its IP43 weather-resistant certification.

"More than ever, people want to capture moments on the go and quickly and easily share them," according to John Blake, General Manager Digital Capture & Imaging Devices and Vice President at Kodak. And that's certainly true: Many people use their cellphone cameras to record spontaneous footage. But most people don't have a rugged go-anywhere cellphone, which is where the Zx1 fills the gap.

It shoots a very respectable 720p at 60fps, takes up to a 32GB SDHC cards for 10 hours of HD video, can cope with both very bright and very dim lighting situations, plays back directly through a HDTV over HDMI, and has a 2-inch LCD. Best of all it comes with two pre-charged Ni-MH rechargeable batteries, which does a lot to reduce the eco-footprint of the camera.

And when it debuts in April it'll only cost $150. Expect a flood of HD user-submitted YouTube video shortly after that.

[TFTS]