The Flip, a truly handy camcorder is the hot new toy in the US. It looks like your blackberry pearl and it captures videos at 640*480 resolution. The Flip Ultra can capture an hour of video in its 2 gig solid state memory. It is certainly a glorified webcam but the usability and its direct-to-youtube software is making it popular among soccer moms of the country.

When I first read about Flip, it was minimalist personified for me and that drove me to buy one. Last night, I took it around for a spin. Here's an edited version of my drive through Redmond and back. Don't think too much about what I was trying to say, I wasn't trying to say anything. The song is a heavy metal rap called Click Click Boom by Saliva.

If you didn't like the quality, the blame is on me. I added the film grain to give it a rusty look. The colors are vivid except the sun looks like a big black hole.

Yes, the video is also promptly duplicated on youtube.