Gadgets: 2 new pocket camcorders

Two new portable camcorders from Panasonic and Samsung are vying with Flip, the market leader, for a place in your pocket. Both shoot video in full 1080p high-definition.

The Panasonic HM-TA1 ($170) doubles as a webcam when connected to a computer via USB, a clever feature for video chat applications. It's a compact, straightforward camcorder with a design similar to that of the Flip family. Just below its 2-inch LCD are single-function buttons for power, play, record, still photo and delete.

The camcorder, available this month in purple, gray and red, can shoot still images at a resolution of eight megapixels. It has a familiar fold-out USB connector for easy transfer of videos to a computer and battery charging. It uses the ubiquitous SD card (not included) for storage, so users probably can swap in cards from their digital cameras.

The $200 Samsung HMX-E10 has a bright f/2.2 lens that swivels 270 degrees (similar to the Sony Bloggie), giving users greater flexibility in framing videos. It has a 2.7-inch LCD with a touch interface for shooting and sharing video. It can add four effects to video: miniature (a shift-tilt effect), vignetting, defog (mimicking the effect of a polarizing filter) and sketch (a pencil drawing effect). The camcorder also can capture still images at eight megapixels.

Again, there's the familiar pop-out USB connector, but for storage, the Samsung camcorder uses a microSD card (not included), rather than the more standard SD card. That means you'll probably have to invest in a different type of memory card. It will be available in ivory or black in September.

As their data capacity has grown, flash drives have been shrinking. One case in point is the new SanDisk Cruzer Blade.

The Blade is about the size of a paper clip, and it weighs the same as a penny. It's fairly sturdy, and can hold up to 16 gigabytes of files; that's about 4,000 songs or 5,000 photographs.

It costs $15 for two gigabytes and up to $78 for the 16GB model.