Logitech launches QuickCam Vision Pro aimed at Mac consumers.  With 2MP video and microphone, it’s looks pretty good.

Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro for Mac Delivers Image-Perfect Detail, Exceptional Video Calling with iChat and Skype

FREMONT, Calif. — June 24, 2008 —  To help you stay close to those who matter most, Logitech (SWX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI), the world’s leading manufacturer of webcams, today unveiled its first Mac®-compatible webcam with premium autofocus technology and Carl Zeiss® optics: the Logitech® QuickCam® Vision Pro webcam for Mac. The new Logitech webcam delivers image-perfect detail and clarity, and exceptional video calling with iChat® and Skype®.

“With this new webcam for Mac computers, we’ve integrated our most advanced video technologies to truly enrich your video-calling experience,” said Gina Clark, general manager and vice president of Logitech’s Internet Communications business unit. “The lens and autofocus, the sensor and the lighting software all contribute to create image-perfect detail and clarity. Whether you’ve used a standalone or an embedded webcam in the past, you’ll be amazed at the difference in quality our new webcam makes.”

To deliver image-perfect detail and clarity, the Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro webcam for Mac combines Logitech’s premium autofocus technology with Carl Zeiss optics. The new Logitech webcam uses a voice coil motor for its autofocus system, instead of a stepper motor. Focusing is fast and fluid – crisp even in extreme close-ups only 10 cm from the camera lens. Logitech’s autofocus system compensates for changes in image-edge sharpness and refocuses images in less than three seconds. And through its exclusive collaboration with Carl Zeiss, Logitech ensures that the lens meets the world-renowned Zeiss standards for design and manufacturing to achieve superior sharpness in a compact, lightweight design.

The 2-megapixel sensor helps the Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro webcam for Mac capture video images in high resolution. It is assisted by Logitech’s RightLight™2 Technology, which enables the webcam to adjust intelligently in dim or harshly backlighted situations.

via logitech

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Here’s a floppy disk that plays some really horrible Star Wars music.  Why!!!

I assume it’s a hardware hack that manually controls the floppy drive’s stepper motor, but it’d make my day if this was done in software using standard I/O requests. Either way, the 3.5 inch FDD finally serves an important function again.

via hackszine

Check out PMinMO Electronics, they got some great pdfs on stepper drivers.

Thanks joe!

Here’s an update of controlling 3 stepper motors using a CUBLOC CB280 module. Although you can move the motors simultaneously, there are a lot of applications you can use it for.  Sorry about the video, my video camera needs head cleaning.