Company launches crowdfunding campaign for $50 thumb drive that doubles as a camera

WTF?! For those few people who've looked at their USB thumb drive and wished it could take photos and videos, a Japanese company is crowdfunding such a device. The concept is proving quite popular: it's blasted past its 100,000 yen ($690) funding target and is currently at 2,255,770 yen ($15,560). April Tokyo's 3-in-1 USB memory & art camera combines the portable storage of a memory stick with the photography and video capabilities of a modern camera.

Like most USB thumb drives, the device is impressively small, measuring just 70mm x 40mm x 20 mm (2.7 x 1.5 x 0.



7 inches), which includes the flash at the top and the protruding camera bump on the front. The 3-in-1 USB memory & art camera looks like a normal miniature camera, complete with a shutter button on the top right, menu and mode buttons, a status LED, and a 0.9-inch circular LCD screen displaying the camera view.

It also comes with a rechargeable battery – no details about that component, though. Pull off the camera's cap and you'll find a USB Type-A port. The device's storage is provided via the included 32GB microSD card that fits in a slot on the other side.

It's able to store the photos you take, videos, and pretty much any other type of data that you could save to standard thumb drives. Being so small and costing just 7,216 Yen (around $50) for the early-bird pledge means you aren't going to want to use the camera to record precious life events. It captures JPGs at a 1280 x 960 resolution, while AVI videos are recorded at 1280 x 720 at 30 fps.

The crowdfunding page also makes several boasts about its four types of filters – monochrome, orange, green, and blue – though these appear to merely change the colors. Most people in the developed world have smartphones these days, and dirt cheap USB thumb drives are ubiquitous, so why pay $50 for this device? According to the copmany, it lets users enjoy shooting with an analog feel that you can't get with a smartphone. April Tokyo's device certainly seems like a niche product.

314 people have already pledged their support, pushing the campaign's total funds to 2,255% over its target. Permalink to story: Company launches crowdfunding campaign for $50 thumb drive that doubles as a camera.