Veo introduced a 1.3 megapixel camera designed to utilize Secure Digital IO(SDIO) card slots on select Tungsten handheld devices from palmOne. The Photo Traveler 130S is equipped with a true 1.3 megapixel sensor and standardized JPEG encoding, which allows users to transfer photos between devices or print 3″x5″ photos directly from their handheld.

SnapStream Media announced two new products: the Beyond Media software for photos, music, DVD and videos and the Firefly PC remote control. The upcoming Beyond Media product is designed to complement the company’s Beyond TV personal video recording (PVR) software, bringing digital photography, digital music, DVDs and digital videos into the living room.

For those of you who’ve been trying to get into any of the ZATZ sites for the past four hours, we’re back! This one was fun. The Verizon folks tracked three separate equipment failures on their end of the T-1 circuit, but it took so long to find because one of the equipment failures was a buggy board on one of their test devices. As a result, their tests were giving wrong information. Needless to say, it’s time for chocolate. Also, special thanks to the Verizon techs who stuck through the process all afternoon and WAY into the evening with good humor

In his keynote address at Macworld, Steve Jobs unveiled a new addition to the iPod family — the iPod mini. The Seattle Times says that at $249 and with 4 gigabytes of storage, the mini is only slightly smaller and slightly cheaper than its $299 iPod.

E-Commerce News reports that Intel’s venture capital wing, Intel Capital, will oversee the Digital Home Fund, which will have a US$200 million bankroll to back startups that develop home entertainment hardware and software.

Juha Christensen resigned as Microsoft Corp. corporate vice president of mobile devices in November to join a startup but has instead signed on with Macromedia Inc. According to InfoWorld, Christensen has been named president of Macromedia’s mobile and devices business unit. The mobile and devices unit is primarily focused on expanding use of Macromedia’s Flash format by mobile phone makers and providers of content for mobile use.

As Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and other tech stalwarts head to Las Vegas for this week’s Consumer Electronics Show, CNET takes a look at what to expect from Microsoft and HP at the show.

CRN reports that PalmSource unveiled an alliance with Research in Motion (RIM) to jointly develop BlackBerry connectivity support for Palm OS as part of its Palm Powered Mobile World program introduced during Comdex Las Vegas 2003. At the same time, HP teamed with Cranite System on a partnership to deliver wireless networking solutions to government and health-care vertical markets.

PalmSource posted a wider quarterly net loss, hit with charges related to its spinoff from PalmOne. In its first financial report since being spun off in October, the company said it had a net loss of $9.1 million, or 89 cents a share, for its fiscal second quarter ended Nov. 30. That compares with a year-ago net loss of $8.3 million, or 83 cents a share.

The elves have informed us that there’s some kinda big shindig going on throughout much of the world. We, being the glorious geeks that we are, usually find this stuff out because someone tells us what we got someone else for a gift. This holiday is not all that much different. We do wish all our readers, advertisers, constituents, and the weird guy who keeps sending us (…well, him…not so much) a very happy holiday and a great new year.

News Editor Heather’s traveling this holiday season, so news coverage will be spotty until the new year. ‘Course, there’s not exactly a ton of news between now and then anyway, so if you’ve got something big to announce, save it up and we’ll write about it in a couple of weeks.

We will be publishing full issues on December 28 (yeah, lucky us!), so stay tuned to your email. We’ve got some great stuff heading your way, giving you food for thought during this great holiday break.

Finally, we wish everyone, world-over, peace, love, joy, toys, gadgets, and cheese. Big, honkin’ blocks of cheese. Joy to the cheese.