Posted 08/14/08 at 11:00:00 AM by Gordon Mah Ung

If you still get warm and fuzzy thinking about those James Garner and Mariette Hartley Polaroid commercials, it’s time to let go of the past. Traditional film is barely hanging on, and Polaroid has completely ceased production of instant film.

But Polaroid hasn’t abandoned its interest in prints. The company is trying to rekindle the instant-print picture industry with its new Polaroid PoGo portable printer. This 4.75”x2.75”x1” device is the first to use Zink Imaging’s Zero Ink paper. Instead of shooting dots of ink onto a piece of paper, the PoGo uses a thermal head to heat up tiny crystals embedded in each sheet of paper.

Sounds rad, eh? Find out the skinny after the jump.

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Posted 08/13/08 at 09:46:57 AM by Chris Moody

Just last February, we thought we saw the last of the famed Polaroid instant film, and the iconic instant camera. Those things introduced a generation to anonymous photo processing so you could take candid photos of family in embarrassing predicaments or those steamy photos of friends-with-benefits that were to soon become exfriends-with-drawbacks. Perverts everywhere looked back on Polaroid’s instant cameras with a sense of nostalgia.

Those old cameras just couldn’t complete with digital cameras and photo printers. The picture quality was terrible, it printed the picture no matter what (photos of the ground, foot, or fingers where common), and they were bulky. It was like having around a shoebox around your neck.

Still it seems there must be some section of the population that Polaroid thinks misses the ability for their camera to spit out actual photos. Wired reports that Polaroid is teaming up with UK magazine Amateur Photographer and will work out the details of a new Camera that will have a built in PoGo. MPC took a first look at the PoGo last month and was not very impressed. The only confirmed details are the size of the prints, the PoGo prints 2x3 photos where this new camera will print 4x3, the same size as the old analog cameras. No shaking required (not that the old ones really needed it either).

Do you need a camera that can spit out instant photos? Bad idea or good? Sound off below!

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