Well, the title tells the story: at CES2009, Panasonic unveiled its first Wi-Fi b/g equipped compact digital camera and sets up an interesting ecosystem. What the titel doesn’t mention is that the Japanese manufacturer has also made a deal with T-Mobile (Internet connectivity provided by T-Mobile hotspots) and Google (Picasa web album).

The approach is quite similar to Sony’s for its Wi-Fi Cybershot, and it looks like setting a new trend in digital imaging for consumer market.

For the time being, the model is available on US and Japan markets only.

New Wi-Fi LUMIX TZ50 Digital Camera in Japan and US markets only features HD Video, 28mm Wide-Angle Lens, 10x Optical Zoom Ideal for Active Users to Share Photos On-the-Go

Here a complete Panasonic Lumix TZ50 review

The Cybershot G3 Wi-Fi DLNA certified digital camera is one of the coolest gadget I have seen at CES 2009.

As previously written, this camera features a Wi-Fi connetcion anda full web browser which allow users to upoload their pictures and videos to Picasa or YouTube (and more) when the memories are still fresh and plenty of emotions. A wireless connection is required, of course.

Sony guys say that it helps preserving emotions and encourages users to share their content because if they wait to come back at home after a trip or vacation, their willingness to publish pictures on the web dramartically decreases.

Sony partnered with AT&T to offer a connectivity bundle to Cybershot G3′s owners. Plus, some popular sharing websites are adapted by a Sony Platform to make it easier to upload pictures from the camera’s web browser (actually it can be used to ckeck your email as well, if you can manage to read message in a digital camera).

That’s why we can describe it as an innovative Ecosystem.

Here you can find some videos which explain features and functionalities of this gadget.

Right now, thousands of blogs and websites are being populated with pictures, comments, press releases’ quotations and detailed technical information about the last edition of the Consumer Electronic Show held in Las Vegas (8-11 Jan). Well, I suppose some are covering Obama’s ceremony, too.

As the CES is so big and messy and plenty with innovative and strange gadgets, it would be impossible to deliver a complete coverage, from MP3 players to flat screen TVs and solar power cells. Indeed, I’ll try to point out just a couple things which make sense when it comes to digital photography. Here we go.

1. The end of the Megapixel race. Small format sensors’ resolution has apparently reached its plateau (about 10-12 MP). Pushing the resolution (and the pixel density) beyond this value doesn’t seem very  useful. Indeed, consumers hardly perceive the benefit of upgrading from, say, a 8 MP to a 14 MP as they rarely enjoy their pictures on large format prints; no way to display ten million pixels at their actual full resolution, as full HDTV resolution is smaller than a compact camera sensor. finally, people get frustrated when their email server refuses to exchange that beautiful set of hi-def pictures with their buddies; a 1024x768px jpeg file is more than enough for web browsing and email; most bridge cameras can shoot in RAW format
2. interchangeable lens system is now available on non reflex cameras (Panasonic G1), allowing users to espand their shooting possibilities.
3. some computational photography functionalities are becoming popular on many compact digital cameras and cameraphones as well: face detection, automatic scene detection, blink detection, HDR, continuous focus. Point and shoot cameras make now much more sense and deliver higher quality pictures
4. Wi-Fi is not a popular feature yet. Sony Cybershot G3 integrates both Wi-Fi b/g and a full web browser; plus, Sonycreated an interesting ecosystem by partnering with AT&T (for wireless connectivity) and with Picasa and others (for on line photo publishing). Eye-Fi (SD cards with Wi-Fi chip) is working with camera manufacturers to integrate web publishing functionalities in new cameras’ menus.
5. professional full frame cameras feature now 25 MP sensors but lack automatic features and Wi-Fi connections (actually not a big issue) 
6. strong convergence between still and motion pictures: now most compact digital cameras can shoot HD (720p) and/or full HD (1080p) video at 30 fps with efficient real time encodings (H.264 usually). Files are stored on hi speed (class 6) SD cards.
7. Capture the moment: Casio EXF shoots 60 high resolution frame per seconds and lets you select and save the best picture/pictures. Pictures can be considered as single frames of a HD video. Users can finally get the right moment while taking pictures of people, sport, action.
8. Consumer camcorders usually offer full HD video recording feature. Great success of low price pocket HD cameras (brought by Sony and Creative) with YouTube publishing features.
9. some camera phones feature 8 MP, high quality lens digital cameras; the first camera phone with an integrated DLP pico projector has been presented by Samsung.
10. While 32GB SD cards will be available on the market in February-March, manufacturers promise to ship Terabyte memory cards in 4-5 years.