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The Ritz Dakota Digital is a type of point-and-shoot digital camera, introduced in July of 2003, and sold by the Ritz/Wolf Camera store franchise. It has a digital photo resolution of 1.2 megapixels (1280 pixels wide, 960 pixels high) and a storage capacity of 25 pictures.
When introduced, the Dakota Digital sparked massive interest, primarily due to its price tag: $10.99 (US Dollars). At the time, a digital camera of similar resolution and functionality was in the $40-$70 range. The reason for the low price was due to the fact that the Dakota Digital was a Single-Use Camera, I.E. the consumer takes the pictures, returns the camera to the store, and the pictures are returned to the consumer in print and CD-ROM format (After an additional $11 processing fee) while the camera is refurbished and resold. The Dakota Digital was the first digital camera ever manufactured using the single-use concept.
Almost immediately after introduction, several people began work on hacking the single-use Dakota Digital in attempts to transform it into what would be the least expensive reusable digital camera available at the time. In November of 2003, only four months after it was introduced, they succeeded in this task. Technical details about the internal components were publicly posted on the Internet, along with instructions for creating various compatible link cables that connected the Dakota Digital to home PC's. Special third-party software was also made available, providing a way to download the pictures and clear the camera's internal flash memory to allow more pictures to be taken. The technical data, instructions and software fulfilled all requirements to make the Dakota Digital reusable.
Public announcement of how to transform the single-use camera into a reusable camera, paired with the very low camera price, immediately created high demand for the Dakota Digital as people started buying them so they could acquire their own reusable digital camera at low cost. Along with the increased demand, Ritz began pulling the Dakota Digital out of its stores after learning of the hack. Because of these two factors, it very rapidly became difficult to find a Dakota Digital camera.
A few months after the original Dakota Digital was pulled off the shelves, Ritz introduced two new models of Dakota Digital, the PV2 series. One was similar to the original model with a price of $10.99, while the other, priced at $18.99, contained a color LCD screen that displayed the most recent picture taken. As of the last revision of this article, attempts to hack the newer PV2 models have been unsuccessful, primarily due to differences in internal components and possible security measures, although technical study and modification attempts continue.
In July of 2004, a group of hackers made available methods to further improve the original Dakota Digital by upgrading the camera's firmware, or internal programming. These firmware upgrades added several new features, most notably the ability to adjust or remove the original 25 picture limit, along with various other changes and improvements.
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