We can do Magic!

You'd better watch your back Adobe, because it looks like you've got company in the 3D picture game. Stanford University researchers have recently hit upon a method of image sensing which can judge the distance of subjects within a shot. By using a 3-megapixel sensor which is broken into multiple, overlapping 16 x 16-pixel squares (referred to as subarrays), a camera is capable of capturing a variety of angles in one frame. When the images taken by the multi-aperture device are processed by proprietary software, location differences are measured from each mini-lens, and then combined into a photograph containing a depth map. This procedure allows the same image to appear at different angles, provided the subject has depth to begin with (i.e., isn't a flat surface). Here's hoping this technology makes it into consumer products pronto, ASAP, and forthwith.

[Via Wired]

2008년 2월 22일

Prepare to be amazed. Thank the good lorf for embedded video because any words used to convey our awe in Dan Paluska's and Jeff Lieberman's ping pong ball hurling, robotic Absolut Quartet orchestral machine would fall limp upon your liquid crystal cells, rods and cones. Should have sent... a poet. Video after the break.

Alter-G looks to have been boasting about its G-Trainer "anti-gravity" treadmill for some time now, but it seems that it's now a whole lot closer to finding itself under your feet someday, as it has now been approved as an actual medical device by the FDA. In case it didn't pop up on your radar, the device itself makes use of a specialized air pressure regulation system to reduce the individuals' effective body weight by up to 80%, with it apparently precise enough to make changes in increments as small as 1%. Of course, Alter-G also seems to be quite confident that the rig is entirely safe but, given some of the predicaments we've seen other, seemingly innocuous treadmills get in, we'd still be a little cautious about strapping ourselves into the thing.

[Via MedGadget]

We know, most of you Blue Devil fans are still reeling from that recent loss to Wake Forest, but if it's any consolation, at least your campus is about to become home to the "world's largest" 802.11n wireless network. Last we heard, The Ohio State University held the crown for Earth's biggest WLAN with 1,700 access points lit, but according to Cisco, Duke's campus will soon house 2,500 Aironet 1250 Series APs. The installation will leave more than six million square feet of central North Carolina blanketed in WiFi, and will supposedly be the "largest planned 802.11n wireless network in the world by any organization to date." Watch out, Dukies -- we hear those folks in Chapel Hill have a thing for swiping unsecured signals.

<2008년 2월 20일>

While the advanced processing, glass and sensors of DSLRs has made them a likely candidate for video capture for some time now, a few technical obstacles have stood in the way. All that could be changing, though, with this DSLR "Movie Mode" patent from Japanese inventor Hiroshi Terada uncovered by Photography Bay. The wide-ranging patent addresses trouble spots such as AF focus speed and tolerance, and the auto-cropping DSLRs perform during AF adjustments, but most interesting is the mirror. The patent suggests a mirror that lets through 70% of light, while reflecting the other 30%. Reflected light can be used for continuous AF, while transmitted light is captured on the camera's primary sensor. This mirror configuration also allows live view while shooting stills. There's no telling when we'll start seeing this in cameras, or if any major manufacturers have even licensed it yet -- or have developed similar systems -- but it does seem clear that DSLR movie shooting is fairly inevitable.

[Via Photography Bay] << 자세한 설명은 출처로...