The Bell+Howell Genie III, a keychain camera, first surfaced in Hong Kong last month on the local tech forums and immediately took the town by storm. Measuring 60 x 38 x 20mm and weighing just 15g, the Genie III is the size of a matchbox, features a 2-megapixel CCD and 4GB storage.
It is capable of taking high-resolution pictures (1,600 x 1,200) or 60-second videos (8mm video at 320 x 240 with no audio). Because of its LOMO characteristics, i.e. over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring and "happy accidents", the Genie III had great success in Taiwan, Japan and Korea before making its way to Hong Kong. In the past week, ShoppeRite, the sales arm of Bell+Howell, even had to take the product off its catalog due to product shortage. The going price on Yahoo Auction had gone past the HK$450 (US$57.7) mark this week, almost double the last listed price of US$24.95 on Sho
