The Ikea Cardboard Camera (no kidding!)

I have a love-hate relationship with Ikea, I love about half the stuff in the store (especially the cheapo stuff in what I call the flea-market area), and the other half (ugly modern furniture) just leaves me cold. I'm not sure which category to put this in: at a recent trade show Ikea was handing out Ikea-branded re-usable cardboard digital cameras in their press kits.

The camera is apparently a fully-functioning digicam wthat will shoot up to 40 exposures. You can then transfer the images to your computer via a flip-out USB plug. The camera runs on a pair of AA batteries, and the internal memory is emptied (after downloading, of course) by inserting a paper clip into the trash-hole. It uses two AA batteries (something I like since you can replace them anywhere if they run down). I don't know the specs for camera resolution.

With everyone snapping away with their iPhones these days I'm not sure how big the market is for an almost-disposable digital camera, but what the heck, if Ikea sells them for just a few bucks (as they probably will), I'm sure there will be lots of them placed on tables at wedding receptions or stuffed into Christmas stockings.

Please visit my main site: I hope you'll take a look at the many free tutorials on my main site.  There is also a camera-buying guide there that I'm currently updating.