PaceBlade offers an optional USB Camera for use with the PaceBook. This USB camera, or PaceBook Camera, is a standard CCD camera that swivels 360 degrees and tilts 40 degrees up and down. The CCD does rotate 90 degrees to handle whichever display mode you are in, Landscape or Portrait.

While using the PaceBook Camera, extreme care must be taken to keep the camera lens free of all debris. We did get some dust on the lens of our test unit, and found it difficult to clean. Because the lens is so compact, the included ScotchBrite cleaning cloth will not fit in this space, and even using compressed air did not completely clean the lens. We were forced to disassemble the camera in order to get the lens clean. Disassembling the camera is not something that we recommend because (1) this will void the product warranty, and (2) we found it difficult to reassemble with the correct CCD orientation.

The ever rotating USB CCD camera rotates a full 360 degree and tilts 40 degrees up and down. It will also rotate 90 degrees to accommodate the unit in landscape and portrait modes.

Overall, the quality isn't bad for the size of the CCD camera. What we found particularly innovative is the way that the camera attaches to the top of the PaceBook. When attached to the top of the PaceBook, it has a very "science fiction" -type of appearance. The overall value of the camera is questionable due to the PaceBook's lack of built-in wireless options.

With the camera attached you could use the PaceBook for video conferencing.