digital projector
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Augmented reality sandbox lets you change the course of rivers, won't get you wet
Ask any kid, playing in the sandbox is fun enough on its own, but too much moisture will turn your grainy playground into a lumpy mess. Researchers at UC Davis have cooked up one solution: an augmented reality sandbox. Much like last year's SandyStation, the project uses a Kinect sensor in conjunction with a digital projector and a bit of software to overlay topographical data and simulated water over a traditional -- and dry -- sandbox. The end result is an augmented environment that can be used to teach geographic, geologic and hydrological concepts. The team hopes the project will help them develop hands-on exhibits for science museums, teaching visitors about contour lines, watersheds, catchment areas and more. Check out the video above for a full demo, or scope out the source below for the technical nitty-gritty.
Grad students forge digital light projector into medical imaging device, can't find dates
If it's a geek badge of honor to find an entirely new use for something, then the grad students at UC Irvine have earned theirs. Over at the university, a group of grad students have hacked an off-the-shelf digital light projector to create a spatial frequency domain imaging system. Once complete, the budding mad scientists were able to image their thesis adviser's bicycling injuries and have used it to measure the oxygenation of skin flaps during reconstructive breast surgery. Click past the break for a video of the device in action, and remember this: helping your professor with their sports injuries and reconstructed bosoms may not equal Dean's List, but it sure can't hurt.
Movie theaters could screw up your 2D movies by leaving the digital projector set up for 3D
We generally prefer to do our movie viewing in our own home theaters, but when we succumb to the temptation of public moviehouses we often choose digital projection hoping for a flawless viewing experience. Unfortunately, this report by The Boston Globe indicates that may not be the case. It is alleged by unnamed theater employees that theaters are leaving the 3D lens adapters on their Sony 4K digital projectors even when showing 2D. Just like viewing 3D, this cuts the light output and it's worse for 2D films not made with that in mind, but theaters do it because removing the lenses is overly complex and many moviegoers don't seem to notice or complain. The Globe suggests checking the digital projector yourself -- if you see two beams of light from on high at a 2D flick then something is rotten in Denmark. Check the article at the source link for a rundown of many of the chains using these types of projectors and why that's the case (money), but after this and Liemax premium VOD is starting to sound better and better.
Explay's ultraportable projector says make room
Just about everybody's getting on the portable projector bandwagon; you've got Sony, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Epson, Viewsonic, all with sub-laptop-sized devices being prepared to throw up dimly-LED-lit images onto boardroom walls the business world over. But Explay's about to say balls to that with their new pocketable digital projector, which they claim should hit the market in the first half of 2007. It's not exactly a groundbreaking concept or anything, but ultraportable projectors are definitely about to become the hot new turf for those companies, like PVPro and Digismart, of itching to get theirs to market first.
