For those who expressed interest in photos, there is a video up on
YouTube right now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDU6dwBkbw8#GU5U2spHI_4

And there is an article on Gizmodo today as well:

The response from the Giz article has been overwhelming, as you might
imagine. My inbox is flooded with applications to become a beta tester.

Let me know if you have any questions. I am truly sorry that I am not
able to make it out to Toronto for the gathering.

Don

--- In panoheads@yahoogroups.com, "Don" <DCFrench@...> wrote:
>
> Hello Panoheads,
>
> I am Don French and I signed up for this list when I read about your
> upcoming event in Toronto. I had hoped that I could make it there to
> meet some other panoheads and to get some feedback on my new motorized
> pano machine. I don't think that I will be able to make it to Toronto
> as it turns out but maybe one or more of you might be interested in
> getting a beta version of my machine prior to the meetup.
>
> I went to the amazing xRez Yosemite shoot last weekend and brought my
> machine with me. I can hardly express how great that experience was.
> There were 20 teams, all of which were provided with a Gigapan to
> shoot a panorama of a section of the valley at 1 PM on Saturday.
> About 50 people participated all together. We mostly all camped
> together in a group camp in Yosemite Valley and so everyone pretty
> much got to meet and talk with everyone else. xRez provided a great
> catered meal on Saturday night and everyone sat around the great
> campfire and consumed beverages afterwards and had a great time.
> Amazing people and amazing synergy! It was also a great opportunity
> for me to show off my gadget and I got an amazingly positive response
> from everyone who saw it.
>
> So a little more about the gadget. It is called AutoMate and I
> started a company called The Gadget Works that is now preparing to
> make and sell them. When I demonstrated my machine to the people who
> had just returned from using the Gigapan to shoot their panos, the
> almost universal response was, Wow! That is what the Gigapan should
> be. So this made me very pleased of course. Here are the things that
> they said that they preferred about AutoMate over the Gigapan.
>
> It can handle a DSLR and a long lens (I demonstrated it with my
> biggest lens, a 400 mm), whereas the Gigapan can only handle a point
> and shoot. It is very compact and light (2 pounds including
> batteries). Most of the people had hiked up a mountain and back down
> to get their shoots, so this was a biggie. It is stable as a rock.
> The Gigapan did not do well in the wind, apparently. I guess it kind
> of blows around. AutoMate doesn't have fragile mechanical parts
> sticking out to get caught on stuff. The Gigapan has a shutter
> plunger mechanism that is easily bent or broken and it sticks out.
> AutoMate is much, much easier to set up and get running. It has
> presets for everything that you can save and reload, and it remembers
> the last settings you used so most of the time there is nothing much
> to do except point the camera and start shooting. AutoMate has a LOT
> of extra features that aren't on the Gigapan, like the intervalometer
> and self-timer and custom programs and event sensors and external
> device control.
>
> My web site (www.thegadgetworks.com) has more information, but I just
> started building the site, so there aren't even any photos of the
> machine yet. This will change soon. Videos coming too, and screen
> shots of the UI! Anyway, you can apply to be a beta tester by
> clicking the link at the bottom of the Products page. I am doing it
> like the Gigapan people did, and charging a reduced price in exchange
> for getting beta testing feedback. I haven't set the retail price
> yet, but it will be more than the Gigapan and much less than anything
> else on the market. I am thinking maybe $699 retail and $499 for the
> beta. Let me know if you think that sounds about right.
>
> Also, if anyone knows a Gigapan beta tester, I would like to talk to
> them. Please have them get in touch with me. Thanks!
>
> Don
>