This post was written by James Levy, a prospective NewTeeVee contributor.

Maybe old-media stalwarts aren’t as laughably out of touch as we thought. At the very least, they recognize a good opportunity to partner with much younger businesses. RCA, a corporation established eighty-eight years ago, is set to announce Monday that its new everything-in-one “Small Wonder” video camera will feature tight integration with upload/sharing site Box.net, established two years ago.

The new camera is one of many connected devices finding their way to the market. Kodak has been selling digital cameras that allow you to wirelessly upload photos to a digital photo service. Nokia and other mobile phone makers are hoping that as faster wireless connections become common place, users are simply going to use their phones for their clicking-and-shooting needs.

RCA and Box.net, however, are taking a simpler approach. Connect the device to your PC using the USB connection, and files are uploaded to Box.net. This partnership is one of the first attempts to integrate web 2.0 with a hardware device.

The EZ201, advertised as easy enough for a child to use, will come with a free gigabyte of storage on Box.net, from which users can embed their videos on other sites. For a camera as big of a deck of cards and priced at $130, it packs an impressive list of features, most significant among them being on-board editing with an LCD screen attachment.

For video recording enthusiasts who like to embed their clips, but don’t have time to jump through various hoops, the arrangement stands to add significant value.

If executed well, this deal has the potential to be a win for both parties involved, amidst a desperate struggle from hardware manufacturers and software vendors to establish start-to-finish vertical integration and ease end usability. As of April, Box.net had over 800,000 users, which means the company still has a long way to go.

In any case, this announcement is a sign of more to come. Expect video cameras over the next six months that promise to do just about everything short of telling you when you’re about to witness a “YouTube moment”.

Now that is a great startup idea.