Matrox Iris GT smart camera announced

If you're interested in getting a new camera, then you might want to take a moment to consider the Matrox Iris GT "smart camera." That is, if you require a bit more from your digital imaging device than the norm. As the name suggests, this camera is not your ordinary device and actually has an Intel Atom processor inside!

In case you thought Atom processors were reserved for netbooks, think again. This Matrox camera has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 256MB of RAM, 1GB of flash storage and many a connection port. It really takes the whole idea of a camera up a notch, huh?

Interestingly enough, this is actually one of the first devices an Atom processor has powered that's not a netbook. It also uses Windows CE 6.0 and lets you "design machine vision applications" without the need for programming. In the end, you'll be able to configure the camera to read barcodes, recognize patterns and more. The Matrox Iris GT will be available in the first quarter of next year.