reflection
Latest
Google and MIT can take reflection-free photos through windows
Who knew that reflection-free window photos were suddenly in vogue? Google and MIT do, apparently. Some of their researchers have developed an algorithm that eliminates unwanted visuals by using frames from a short video to separate the foreground from the background. Unlike an earlier MIT-only technique, this works with nearly any kind of obstruction. It'll remove rain drops and chain link fences, for instance. And in an odd twist, it can also capture an uncannily clear image of any reflections -- you know, in case you want to remember what shirt you were wearing when you took that shot.
Wearables of the future may use reflected WiFi signals to communicate
Let's face it: our gadgets are growing smaller and smarter by the way, and making sure they've got enough power to get us through a day or two is no small feat. That problem wasn't lost on a team of researchers from UCLA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory -- they've spent the last two years cooking up a way for a device to communicate with a WiFi router by reflecting the very signals it sends out back at it. The end result? An incredibly low-power way for future wearables (or other tiny gizmos) to send data back and forth.
Hyperspace Beacon: A 2012 SWTOR reflection
To say that this year has been interesting for Star Wars: The Old Republic would be a major understatement. I think it's safe to say that in the course of this year this game has gone from being one of the most loved games to one of the most hated. Maybe I just like rooting for the underdog, but I still love the game. (There are other reasons, of course.) Love the game or hate it, 2012 has been a wild ride for the game and this column. As this is the last Hyperspace Beacon of the year year, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on some of the past opinions and predictions I held, then test them against my current stance or the truth behind what happened. Before I get into the meat of this column, I want to make mention of an event. The Imperials of The Ebon Hawk server are holding a gala in the name of Darth Nox, commemorating the one-year anniversary of her ascension to the Dark Council. Players are invited to come ready to roleplay and participate in in-character games. Nox will conduct a scavenger hunt, items will be up for raffle and auction, and every participant should walk away with something. If you were looking for an opportunity to get into roleplay or just have some fun, be sure to visit the market area of Dromund Kaas (instance 1, coordinates: 20, 200) at 6:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, January 5th, 2013.
Sharp 'Moth Eye' LCD Panel demo shows off future HDTVs with less glare
While its high pixel density mobile displays stole much of the attention at CEATEC 2012, Sharp also has tech destined for bigger screens like this "Moth Eye Panel" that Engadget Japanese took a look at during the show. Thanks to nanoscale irregularities on its surface similar to the eye of a moth it claims to give bright colors and high contrast while cutting down glare as seen above (moth eye panel on the left) The technology isn't in use yet, but Sharp says the film has been produced in 60-, 70- and 80-inch sizes already, so if you thought the company's extra large and Elite HDTVs couldn't get any better, next year's model will probably have at least one way to prove you wrong.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help! I bought my dad an iPad!
Dear Aunt TUAW, I wish I had never given my Dad that iPad. When he and my Mom were going on a driving trip, I asked if he wanted 3G service. He says "Sure", so I set it up. Now he's complaining about shelling out $30 a month to AT&T, so I'm telling him to cancel the service. Except he doesn't know what his password is and I think he's putting in the wrong email address (HE ONLY HAS TWO). And he doesn't read my emails explaining all this. I thought about installing 1Password, but my dad would forget that the application is on the iPad (or his Mac for that matter). Is there a way to do LogMeIn sessions to an iPad (controlling the iPad)? Without jailbreaking? Auntie needs to write an app: "Control Dad's/Mom's iPad." Help! Your loving nephew, Peter Dear Peter, In this world, there are things you can control (what's for dinner, what to watch on Netflix, what to wear for that hot date) and things you cannot (your dad, your cat, and your dad's iPad). This is, as you have probably already guessed, a human and not a technological problem. If you can, try calling instead of emailing. You might want to plan a trip out to visit your Dad (and fix up his iPad in person) or surrender to the knowledge that even if you call, the chances are slim that he will follow your directions or listen to your advice. There are things in life that cannot be fixed with technology. Unfortunately, Apple does not (yet) offer any remote administration tools for iPad. Their configuration tools for on-site administration provide a way to mass-configure large groups of iPads and iPhones, but there's no Apple Remote Desktop-like tool available for iOS devices. One of the members of Auntie's bridge club suggested using a combination of Skype, Reflector, mirroring and screen sharing to walk him through the problem, but if dear old Dad is having issues getting other things working, it's unlikely that he'd be able to get this setup without assistance. Your options might expand with jailbreaking and VNC, but it sounds like you've ruled that out completely. Do Auntie's other nieces and nephews have advice for Peter? Jump into the comments and share your thoughts. Hugs, Auntie T.
Mountain Lion's AirPlay Mirroring + Reflector = infinite regress fun
In case you were wondering what would happen if you took Mountain Lion's new AirPlay Mirroring capability and mixed it with the third-party AirPlay utility Reflector... well, it's pretty much exactly what you would expect. Your screen turns into a live example of the barbershop effect, and the only way to get out of the infinite zoom is to quit the Reflector app. You can see the high-res version of the image on our Flickr page. Might make for an interesting desktop picture. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Reflector app brings AirPlay mirroring to Windows
Launching today, Reflection app (now called Reflector) for Windows delivers the same live AirPlay mirroring that OS X users have had access to for several months. Developer David Stanfill tells TUAW, "We received a ton of great feedback from Mac users who were using Reflection in their offices and classrooms. One thing that kept coming up is how great it would be to offer a universal solution that would work for all their computers. We're excited to bring universal one-click wireless mirroring to the world today." This new app lets you mirror your iPad (2nd gen or later) or iPhone (4S or later) screen to your computer for demos, presentation, and recording. The process was not entirely smooth. "We experienced significant challenges bringing this technology to Windows," Stanfill said, "Apple has done a phenomenal job providing developers with access to audio and video frameworks and licensing all the important codecs on their platform. On Windows, we had to invest in substantial internal development and obtain extensive licenses to support this great functionality." Reflection for Windows will cost US$19.99 ($59.99 for a 5-person license). "With Reflection, we've been able to bring over all the features of the Mac version to Windows, including recording, full audio streaming, support for multiple devices, and full screen display." Stanfill also launched an initial AirParrot for Windows release today. AirParrot ($14.99 single license, $49.99 5-person license) allows you to mirror all or part of your computer screen out to Apple TV. This is a great way to move web pages, Hulu videos, etc. to a TV screen. The AirParrot launch will not initially be as full featured as the Mac version. Stanfill explains, "On Windows, we have features we're still working on including individual app window mirroring and extended display support. We hope to have those out soon. We're busy making sure those will be perfect." He's hoping to follow up with those this summer.
Reflector app goes live, brings iOS screen mirroring to your Mac
Ever wanted to use AirPlay mirroring to show the screen of your iPad 2 or iPhone 4/4S on your Mac? Just released, Reflection (now renamed Reflector, $14.99 for a single license, $39.99 for a 5 pack) offers a well-featured mirroring receiver for OS X, ideal for education and demos -- and a great way to eliminate the Frankencable for iPad video capture. I've been beta-testing Reflection for several weeks. I watched as David Stanfill (developer of AirParrot, which I introduced a few weeks ago on TUAW) refined and stabilized this app. With Reflection, you can project app demos to your Mac in real time. This is a great feature for any developer or teacher, or even for business folk who would like to bring along their presentations on their phone. I first wrote about Reflection a few weeks back on TUAW, and it received quite the warm welcome -- many of our readers asked when it would debut, and how they could purchase a copy. At that point, the app was just in its initial alpha release. It barely supported multiple resolutions and provided few options. What you get today is full mirroring, including audio, with orientation updates and many video optimization features as well as pseudo-frames that make the video on your desktop look as if it's running on an iPhone or iPad -- just as it would with the Xcode iOS simulator. It's not quite at a bulletproof release, but for day-to-day use for those of you who need these features now and are willing to deal with the occasional crash, it's a great solution as-is. AirParrot ($9.99 for a single license, $29.99 for a 5 pack), the app that mirrors your OS X desktop to Apple TV, has also undergone major changes since I first wrote it up. In the latest release (approximately version 1.2.1), you can now use your Apple TV as an separate external monitor, not just for mirroring desktops. AirParrot also now supports audio mirroring and perceptual smoothing. These are great feature bumps to an already useful app. Here's a handy demo video from our friend Shawn "Doc Rock" Boyd, showing how well Reflection holds up versus the hardware HDMI ingest options from Blackmagic Design. Correction: only the iPhone 4S is supported for mirroring, not the iPhone 4.
'Invisible glass' could reduce display glare, fails as food-in-teeth mirror
There's nothing worse (seriously, it's scientifically proven) than catching some serious glare on your smartphone, unless you're checking for spinach in your teeth -- but thanks to Nippon Electric Glass' new "invisible glass," an overly reflective surface may be a problem of the past. According to our friends at Tech-On, the company has developed a new type of vitrine that reduces glare by using a special film on each side of the substrate, which allows more light to pass through the layers rather than bounce off the surface. Normal glass reflects around eight percent of light, while the new variety only rebounds 0.5 percent, dramatically reducing the luminous reflectance to around 0.1 percent or lower. Looks like your yearning to purchase this thing is finally justified.
Scientists put color on your bling with micro carvings, gangsters pacified
Remember that time when you sipped some herbal tea and thought, "I really want a pink gold ring?" Yeah, that was some good tea alright, but the brainiacs at the University of Southampton have actually found a way to achieve this potential fashion trendsetter. The idea is simple: rather than coating metals -- especially naturally colored ones like gold and copper -- with paint, these folks alter their color by using an ion beam to carve fine patterns that are smaller than visible light's wavelength. The resultant metamaterial dramatically boosts the metals' light absorption efficiency, thus reflecting a different color depending on the pattern's radius and etch depth. So for instance, gold can reflect colors ranging from orange to red to green to brown with its ring pattern etch depth ranging from 85nm to 205nm, respectively. See? We told you it's simple, but there's also some visual aid after the break to wrap up this science lesson.
NintendoWare Weekly: Divergent Shift, Space Trek
We're calling it: the Virtual Console is dead. There have been two games this summer. If there are any more, consider them stragglers. Nintendo, if you'd like to prove us wrong by stepping up the Virtual Console release schedule from "almost never" to "occasionally," please feel free. There are still DSiWare and WiiWare games, though, including Divergent Shift (formerly Reflection), the long-awaited puzzle platformer about navigating two mirrored versions of the same character across different terrains simultaneously.
DSiWare's Reflection out August 16 under new title 'Divergent Shift'
The Konami-published DSiWare platformer Reflection, which sends players through two different, mirror-imaged worlds simultaneously (one on each screen), will be released on the North American DSi Shop this Monday, August 16, according to a tweet from developer Intrinsic Games.
Watch a full match of Team Slayer on Halo: Reach's Reflection map
For being a remake of Halo 2's Ivory Tower, Reflection doesn't look like it's changed much. Aside from giving it a graphical overhaul, the map's layout in Halo: Reach is pretty much what we remember. Large open area, some tight hallways and that elevator -- we call it the "deathvator" because, let's be honest, anybody riding that thing is going to get murdered. Head on past the break and soak in five minutes of what the latter half of your September is going to be like, courtesy of 343 Industries. [Thanks, Glenn]
Hands-on: Konami's DSiWare 'Reflection'
With concept art and a logo that look like they were ripped straight out of a Mirror's Edge anime fansite, it's not surprising that Konami's first DSiWare title Reflection is all about the gameplay and not the graphics. The game features an extremely innovative use of the DSi's second screen as a literal reflection (get it?) of the game, turning an otherwise pedestrian platformer into a challenging puzzler. You play as Kirra, a thief for hire who has been tasked with retrieving an ancient mirror from some similarly ancient ruins. When she finds the mirror, it does what all ancient mirrors do: it breaks. And in doing so, the mirror shatters her reality as well. She now has to reassemble the mirror if there is any hope of restoring her world, and she does this by traveling through both her world and the mirror world, reflected in the DSi's bottom screen. %Gallery-73148%
Konami announces DSiWare puzzle-platformer 'Reflection'
click for gallery Konami has decided to dip its massive toes into the murky waters of the DSiWare platform with Reflection, a downloadable puzzle-platformer designed to invoke the handheld's dual-screen capabilities. In the game, you play as Kirra, an adventurer on a journey to recover a broken magic mirror. Actually, you play as Kirra's good and evil halves simultaneously on the two screens -- a nasty side-effect of the aforementioned mirror-breaking. Though the game's art (seen in the gallery below) isn't exactly stunning, that concept actually sounds pretty neat. According to the game's press release announcement, it's set to drop this fall, so we should be seeing Reflection in the DSi Shop soon. We also expect to see it in a snow-covered hill, shortly before the landslide brings us down. %Gallery-73148%
Niveus unveils 2TB and 4TB Storage Server devices
It's been a blisteringly hot minute since Niveus saw fit to really revamp its aging Storage Server, but for whatever reason, today's the day all that changes. Yep, starting on Valentine's Day, users can grab hold of a 2TB Storage Server or 4TB Storage Server Pro, both of which include the firm's own Reflection technology for keeping data synced across multiple storage units. The duo also sports a rack-mountable design and includes automatic backup software, uPnP Media Server support, remote access via secure login, RAID 0 / 5 capabilities and a wicked high price tag. How high, you ask? Try $2,999 for the 2TB edition or $5,999 for the 4TB model. Yeah, that high. %Gallery-16118%
