panorama
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See the 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' painting in 10-gigapixel detail
Microscope manufacturer Hirox has created a panorama of Vermeer’s famous Girl with a Pearl Earring at a mind-goggling 10-gigapixel resolution.
Explore Mars with a 1.8-billion-pixel panorama from the Curiosity rover
NASA's Curiosity rover has sent the highest-resolution panorama of Mars ever taken back to Earth. Now, you can explore the Martian surface by zooming in on the giant 2GB image or cruising around in a 360-degree video that NASA shared on YouTube.
At Panorama, art exists for the sake of the ’gram
Three years ago, when Panorama debuted in New York, it featured a tech-infused art exhibit area in addition to its musical lineup. I wondered: Who would go to a music festival to check out VR art or light installations? The obvious answer is that people don't go to music festivals to look at installations; they stop by the exhibits to pass time between acts. This isn't Burning Man, where art is as much a part of the experience as living in the middle of nowhere for days. The Lab, as this tech-meets-art zone is called, is more like a benign growth -- it doesn't hamper the experience, but isn't a must-see either. It's like an adrenaline-free theme park with just as much standing in line and waiting around.
Curiosity's sweeping Mars panorama shows how far it's come
After over five years on Mars, the Curiosity rover has done a lot of science and taken a few knocks. While trekking up Mount Sharp recently, however, it paused at Vera Rubin Ridge during a rare period of clear weather. There, it used its mast camera to snap 16 images that NASA assembled into a magnificent, ultra-wide-screen panorama (and video, below) that shows its entire trip to date.
AI's intelligence and stupidity in one photo stitch fail
A Google panorama photo fail from a Reddit user has again shown how good AI can be at weirdly specific tasks and how bad it is at seeing, well, the big picture. A skier with the handle MalletsDarker snapped three photos of friends at the Lake Louise ski resort in Banff, Alberta, and as it does, Google Photos offered to stitch them together. To be sure, the algorithm did a masterful job of blending the three photos. However, it failed to grasp basics like "humans are not eighty feet tall" and turned MalletsDarker's friend into a lurking, Gulliver-esque figure.
HP brought a trippy tech museum to a music fest
It was a blazing hot summer's day, but inside a pitch black room in HP's "The Lab" at the Panorama music festival in New York, I got the chills. I was experiencing Right Passage, one of seven art installations hosted at a gallery set up by the company, which sponsored the festival. Right Passage was by far my favorite -- it's a spectacle that captured my imagination without inundating me with the "tech" of it all.
Facebook's 360-degree photos invade your News Feed today
We knew they were coming, and now they're here: 360-degree photos on Facebook are rolling out on the social network starting today. The new feature spans across Android, desktop and iOS and thankfully uploading your panoramic and spherical shots doesn't sound much different from how you'd share 2D photos. In the News Feed, you'll be able to differentiate between the two thanks to a compass icon denoting what photos you can drag around to get a different perspective. Folks with a Gear VR-compatible device (Facebook owns Oculus, remember) can even check out the fancy new uploads in virtual reality.
Explore Machu Picchu's Inca remains through Street View
Google's Street View "Trekker" backpacks sure get around. After snapping the British Museum and the ancient city of Petra, they've now been to Machu Picchu in Peru. It's an iconic peak rising 2,430 meters (7,970 feet) above sea level, where travellers can gaze upon the remains of the Inca Empire. With Street View, you can take the trip from the comfort of your living room, picking through the crumbling walls and soaking up the various temples, terraces and plazas at your own pace. It's an architectural marvel and as you would expect, Google's stitched panoramas do a good job of capturing the atmosphere. Useful if you're a history teacher, or just trying to persuade your significant other to take a vacation there.
Google buys a panorama startup to bolster Street View
Think that Google Street View could use a fresh coat of paint? Google does, too. The search firm has just snapped up Digisfera, a Portugese startup whose specialty is making the most out of panoramic photos. The newly-acquired company isn't saying exactly what it'll do within the Street View team, but its work on some more ambitious projects may be a clue. It produced a giant tagged panorama at the 2014 World Cup, for example, and captured a sweeping view of President Obama's inauguration.
Microsoft killing its Photosynth 3D panorama apps
For better or worse, tech companies have to do a bit of product housekeeping every now and then. Today's Microsoft's turn to do exactly that. Most notably, the Redmond company announced it will be retiring its mobile apps for Photosynth, the platform it created to let people capture and view the world in 3D. While the applications, which had been available on Windows Phone 8 and iOS, are expected to continue to work for existing downloads, they won't be officially supported moving forward.
Google's letting armchair monster hunters explore Loch Ness
For decades, people have searched for signs of "Nessie" in the murky depths of Loch Ness. Photos and videos have emerged over the years alongside supposed sightings, but they've ultimately failed to prove the mythical beast's existence. Is Nessie fact or fiction? Regardless of where you stand, Google is making it simpler to explore the freshwater loch yourself. The company has captured the giant lake with 360-degree panoramas and uploaded them all to Google Maps Street View. It's a beautiful place, and while you're unlikely to find Nessie lurking in the shallows, there's no harm in looking, right?
Google's interactive tour lets you go 'Inside Abbey Road'
Abbey Road Studios is one of the most famous recording venues in the world, where artists such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson produced some of their most influential tracks and albums. Despite its heritage, the studio isn't open to the public, which means few outside of the music industry have seen what it actually looks like inside. Today, Google is answering the call with a Street View-style online exhibit called "Inside Abbey Road." One hundred and fifty panoramic images have been stitched together to recreate the three main recording studios and mastering suite. The space is littered with photos, videos and other historical tidbits, as well as guided audio tours and interactive mini-games based on classic recording equipment. Unless you're a world-class musician, this is probably as close as you'll ever get to stepping inside Abbey Road Studios yourself.
Engadget giveaway: win a V.360 HD camera kit courtesy of VSN Mobil!
There's something to be said for a well-framed photo, but with the right tech, you can now capture high-resolution video and stills in the round. That's what VSN Mobil's new V.360 is all about: it's a 360 degree camera in a tough shell that can capture the world around you in 1080p HD. It's available now for $399, but for one lucky Engadget reader, the price is $0. You'll get a V.360 camera to take along on snowboarding trips, vacations and anywhere else you want to capture a full panorama. The camera boasts a Snapdragon 800 processor, wireless connectivity (WiFi or Bluetooth), and an array of sensors including GPS for geotagging your shots. There's also a companion app that lets you view your images and video right from your Android or iOS device. If you're up for a little action, the v.360 is also compatible with most existing GoPro mounts. All you need to do is head to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning one of VSN Mobil's new 360-degree cameras. Winner: congratulations to Tim P. of West Melbourne, FL.
Record everything with this dive-friendly 360-degree action cam
Remember 360fly? The panoramic camera from EyeSee360, which built the panoramic GoPano iPhone lens, has been on the scene since early this year at NAB. Now, the WiFi- and Bluetooth-equipped 360fly camera has been given the nod by the FCC, and an attached review manual gives us a better idea how it works. As the company showed earlier, it's a single-lens 360 degree horizontal and 240 degree vertical fisheye lens that has "the widest field of view on the market." It uses an iOS 8 or Android 4.3+ app that turns your Bluetooth LE-equipped smartphone into a 360 degree video viewfinder with full remote control.
Cycloramic teaches users a DIY phone hack so the app keeps working
We first covered Cycloramic in 2012 thanks to the inventive photography app's clever way of taking hands-free panoramic shots. Users simply placed the iPhone standing up on its flat edges and the app would activate the device's vibration function to spin the phone around to in a circle. You can set the device to spin 360 degrees, or 720 or 1080 if you want a longer shot. It's a solid app. Then came the sleep curved edges of the iPhone 6, and suddenly Cycloramic had a problem -- you can't rest your phone on its sides anymore. Cycloramic could have just abandoned the app they've poured so much effort into, or they could find a work around, perhaps using equipment that customers already possess. To that end, Cycloramic has released this video showing iPhone 6 users a DIY hack that keeps their app functioning using just the basic iPhone USB charger. You can watch the video for yourself here and purchase Cycloramic on the iTunes store, here.
Google's panoramic Photo Sphere Camera app reaches the iPhone
Google's all-encompassing Photo Spheres are no longer limited to Android users and those comfy with photo stitching software -- the internet giant has just released a Photo Sphere Camera app for the iPhone-toting crowd. As before, it lets you create 360-degree panoramas just by spinning around in place. You can both share the resulting masterworks with others (including the Google Maps community) and check out others' spheres in the Views hub. It's overkill if you're perfectly content with alternative panoramic apps or plain old landscape shots, but it's hard to object to having one more way to liven up your vacation photos. Swing by the App Store to check out Photo Sphere for yourself.
Visualized: Curiosity rover takes us back to the surface of Mars
Been a while since you last took a trip to Mars? Once again, photographer Andrew Bodrov has stitched together the latest shots from the Curiosity rover so that you can spend a little time on another world. As before, the 360 Cities controls aren't the most intuitive, but hey -- it's a lot cheaper than building your own space program just for a trip across Holst's favorite planet.
Google's new camera app brings Photo Sphere and Lens Blur to Android devices
While Google has continued to toss new features into the camera app shipped on its Nexus devices, many Android phones replace it with something else. But just as we revealed a few weeks ago, now it's available in the Play Store, ready to run on any phone or tablet using Android 4.4 KitKat. Beyond bits like Photo Sphere that we've seen before, Google is filling in the blanks on its new "Lens Blur" option. Meant to emphasize the subject while blurring the background for an impressive depth of field effect, it uses algorithms to simulate the large camera lens and aperture your phone or tablet doesn't actually have. Taking the photo requires an upward sweep to capture multiple images, used to estimate the depth of objects for a 3D map that lets the software re-render the photo later and blur specific items based on where it thinks they are. Google's Research Blog has more details on how it's all done, including the Lytro-like ability to change which object is in focus after you take the shot.
Google to focus on portrait shots and effects with improved camera app
We know that Google has been looking to bring more advanced photo features to Android for a while, but it may soon be ready to show off what it's been working on. Sources aware of Google's plans have confirmed to us that the search giant is currently testing a new version of its camera app that will sport a refreshed UI, a background-blurring effect for portrait shots and improved panorama and Photo Sphere modes. As part of its overhaul, we're told that Google has finally fixed issues with the default camera's photo framing, allowing users to snap images with a new 100 percent no-crop viewfinder. That means you'll see exactly what your Android device will capture before you hit the shutter button, with no unwanted objects creeping in at the edges. The company is also said to be making the camera app more extensible by opening support for third-party filters. This will allow developers (and Android enthusiasts) to create and import custom effects inside the stock camera app. The camera app's portrait skills may see some improvements too, with the addition of a new lens-blur mode that will take photos with a shallower depth of field, mimicking the effects you'd typically see in Nokia's Refocus app and HTC's new One. New high-resolution panorama and Photo Sphere modes have also been added, improving the quality of your sweeping shots. While many are awaiting the release of Android 4.4.3, the latest version of KitKat, Google is set to make these camera improvements available to users by way of a standalone update. Our sources indicate that the app will exist separately so that non-Nexus owners running Android 4.4 and above will be able to take advantage of the improvements, without having to wait for an OTA update from their device maker or carrier.
NASA captures over half the galaxy's stars in new infrared panorama
Keeping a steady hand when snapping panoramic pictures is a valuable skill, but NASA's upstaged your photographic prowess with something a tad more impressive. Using over 2 million infrared pictures shot with the Spitzer Space Telescope over the course of a decade, the agency's created what's being called the clearest infrared panorama of our galaxy ever made. This is the first time all photographs from a project dubbed the Galactic Legacy Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (or GLIMPSE360) have been combined into a single image. Although the final product only shows three percent of the sky, it contains over half of all stars in the Milky Way.
