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Ultra-thin handheld microscope could sniff out skin cancer, forged documents
It may not look like it, but that sleek black thing pictured above is actually a microscope. Designed by engineers at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, this little guy boasts a 5.3mm optical length, rendering it slim enough to fit in the palm of your hand, yet powerful enough to deliver images at a scanner-like resolution of five micrometers, over a wide surface area. Fraunhofer's researchers achieved this balance by essentially tossing out the manual on traditional microscope design. Whereas most devices slowly scan areas and construct images on a piecemeal basis, this handheld uses several small imaging channels and a collection of tiny lenses to record equal sized fragments of a given surface. Unlike conventional scanner microscopes, all of these 300 x 300 square micrometer imaging channels are captured at the same time. With a single swipe, then, users can record 36 x 24 square mm shots of matchbox-sized objects, without even worrying about blurring the images with their shaky hands. The prototype is still two years away from going into production, but once it does, engineers say it could help doctors scan patients for skin cancer more easily, while also allowing bureaucrats to quickly confirm the authenticity of official documents. We can only imagine what it could do for Pac-Man. Full PR after the break.
Stolen Camera Finder promises to find your camera with EXIF data, probably won't
Stolen Camera Finder is a site that promises to find missing cameras, as long as they've been stolen by cooperative criminals. All you have to do is drag and drop a JPG photo taken with your lost camera, and Stolen Camera Finder will hunt for any matches on the web, using the image's EXIF data. To find matches, the site consults a database of photos posted on Flickr and elsewhere, though, without only one million images to its name, this database is still very much a work-in-progress (the tests we conducted came up dry). It's a nifty idea, but one that would probably pay dividends only under certain circumstances. For instance, the thief would have to take pictures with the camera (rather than selling it) and post the images online without wiping the EXIF data. In other words, he'd have to be someone willing to steal a camera purely for the sake of sharing undoctored self-shots on Flickr. We're not sure those people exist.
TCO study compares active and passive 3DTV glasses, doesn't really favor one over the other
The debate over active and passive 3DTV glasses has, for the most part, been riddled with biased claims (and more than a little mudslinging) from TV manufacturers on both sides of the aisle. Now, however, an independent study from TCO Development has finally shed some light on how the two glasses can actually affect a user's viewing experience -- and yes, there are some differences. When researchers tilted the passive, film pattern retarder (FPR) above or below a vertical viewing angle of 15-degrees, 3D images tended to bleed into one another at a higher rate. Active glasses, meanwhile, transmitted white images at a luminance that was three times lower than what FPR-equipped shades delivered. But because passive 3D glasses display images at different polarizations for each eye, they don't offer as much vertical resolution as their active counterparts. Unfortunately, TCO didn't look into how each pair of glasses affects a viewer's health and comfort -- which, for most of us, would probably be the deciding factor. But as soon as it does, expect either Panasonic or LG to jump all over the results. Dive into the full PR after the break.
DARPA's new Space Surveillance Telescope will keep our satellites safe from interstellar debris
What's that in the sky? A bird? A plane? Oh, it's just some junk floating around in space, posing major threats to our military's spy satellites. To help keep an eye on it, engineers at DARPA, MIT and the Air Force have unleashed a new $110 million telescope that's been in the works for nine years now. The new Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) is capable of delivering wide-angle views of the Earth's firmament thanks to a curved CCD. This allows for a massive 3.5m aperture and f/1.0 exposure settings, capturing more light in a day that your average scope can in a week. As part of the Air Force's Space Surveillance Network (SSN), the telescope's primary task will be to look out for any microsatellites, meteors or other alien droppings moving at the same speed at which the Earth rotates. The system developed its first images earlier this year and the Air Force may eventually place SSTs all over the world, creating a 360-degree surveillance blanket and going a long way toward keeping our spycraft warm, cozy, and safe from galactic hazards.
Bang & Olufsen's BeoVision 4-85 TV combines 3D and Full HD with superfluous sleekness
Bang & Olufsen's new BeoVision 4-85 isn't just another run-of-the-mill 3D TV for the unwashed masses. It's a really pretty 3D TV, for the refined and the opulent. The 85-inch plasma screen comes encased in a high-grade aluminum frame, and combines anti-reflection coating with automated image controls, to guarantee crystal clear, Full HD viewing at any time of day. B&O's first foray into the 3D/Full HD realm also features a BeoLab 10 central loudspeaker, which uses Acoustic Lens Technology to deliver consistently high-frequency sounds, regardless of where you're sitting in relation to the speaker. And, much like its 103-inch brethren, this 85-incher comes with a motorized stand, which automatically elevates and tilts the screen to ideal viewing position whenever the system is turned on. Once you've finished marveling at the BeoVision 4-85's robust design, you can turn it off and watch in awe, as the display magically lowers itself to "within inches" of the floor (where, incidentally, you'll also be able to find your jaw). No word yet on the price of this experience, but we're gonna go out on a limb and assume that it's pretty steep. The beast is set to be unleashed in Moscow tomorrow, but you can check out an appropriately slick car commercial video on the BeoVision 4 family, after the break.
Alexander Graham Bell's sketchbook reveals ridiculously wonderful imaginings
The image above is a page from Alexander Graham Bell's sketchbook, a self-portrait from the 1870's, is just one page from the large collection of the inventor's papers, now housed at the Library of Congress. Bell's sketches which document the invention of the telephone are the most fascinating of the lot, and happily, the Library has digitized them and made a large selection of them available online.
Ronald Reagan library adds 250 iPod touch tour guides
Ronald Reagan would have celebrated his 100th birthday this past week, and the Presidential Library that bears his name has been updated with a US$15 million renovation. The Library has a variety of new exhibits and new technology, including 180 video screens, two teleprompters, a green screen and 250 iPod touches. More than a static display, the iPod touches are your virtual tour guide through the library and museum. The iPod touch provides an audio narrative of various exhibits throughout the building. Besides providing additional information about the museum, the iPod touch also lets you record video and take pictures of your experience. When the tour is over, these images and video clips are uploaded to a central server from which you can download your memories or share them with your friends on Facebook or Twitter.
Huawei IDEOS X3 and IDEOS S7 Slim tablet revealed en route to MWC launch
Huawei, the company whose name rhymes with the typical response of "who are they," has uploaded a few images to its Flickr page teasing new hardware bound for this year's Mobile World Congress. First up is the IDEOS X3, an Android handset seemingly set to provide a more budget-oriented family mate to the X5. It has two cameras, one on the front and one on the back, three Android buttons, and at least four different color options (red, blue, silver and black). The Barcelona event will see it joined by an IDEOS S7 Slim tablet, also running Google's mobile OS, though our knowledge about that device doesn't extend any further than noting it too has a front-facing camera. Check it out after the break.
X-pire! software will add digital expiration dates to your photos, photo-related embarrassment
Wouldn't it be nice if photos you uploaded to Facebook, MySpace and Flickr just stopped being accessible after a while, saving you the almighty hassle of having to delete them yourself? Well, a few good Germans have come together to produce the X-pire! software, which promises to do just that -- make online imagery inaccessible after a given period of time following their upload. It's been around in prototype form as a Firefox extension, but next week should see its proper launch, complete with a subscription-based pricing model costing €24 per year. Yes, the observant among you will note that this does nothing to prevent others from grabbing those images and re-uploading them, but this software's ambition is humbler than that -- it just aims to give the less tech-savvy (or simply lazier) user a tool for controlling at least part of his or her presence on the web.
The Noun Project: public domain pictograms for designers, the illiterate
OK, this might not be much to look at -- a page full of Dingbats, essentially -- but the premise behind the Noun Project is sound and, in this increasingly complex world, important: by creating a visual collection of downloadable public domain symbols representing things like escalators, fast food, and customs checkpoints, the website hopes to promote a visual language "that can be understood by all cultures and people." And since we're sticklers for good, clean design, projects like this are especially dear to us. Hit up the source link to see for yourself.
UNC researchers develop a system for creating 3D models using images pulled from Flickr, off-the-shelf components
A group of researchers from the University of North Carolina and the Swiss university ETH-Zurich have teamed up to develop a system for creating 3D models of famous landmarks using photos from photo sharing websites like Flickr. Unlike previous projects at Microsoft and the University of Washington, the team at UNC used a home PC (albeit one with four GPUs) to process millions of images pulled from the Internet and construct 3D models of such landmarks as the Colosseum and the Roman baths at Sagalassos (above). And all the models were created in less than a day. According to UNC Chapel Hill's Jan-Michael Frahm, the process improves on current commercial systems by a factor of 1,000 to one. "Our technique would be the equivalent of processing a stack of photos as high as the 828-meter Dubai Towers, using a single PC, versus the next best technique, which is the equivalent of processing a stack of photos 42 meters tall – as high as the ceiling of Notre Dame – using 62 PCs," he said. "This efficiency is essential if one is to fully utilize the billions of user-provided images continuously being uploaded to the Internet." He sees any number of uses for this technology, from AR integration to 3D maps for rescuers in case of a natural disaster.
Astronaut shares amazing Twitpics from space, booze not involved
The same social media-savvy astronaut (and current ISS commander) responsible for the first Foursquare check-in from space is now using his exhibitionist skills on Twitter to share some amazing images of earth. Covering everything from the view of our blue planet outside of the Cupola of the International Space Station, to a night view of the Nile river, or morning breaking over the Andes -- it's pretty surreal stuff and definitely puts your tweets from last night's bar-hopping to shame. We're also glad to see NASA's presence on Twitter be slightly more uplifting than the long, agonizing death of the Mars Phoenix rover. To view some of the shots in question, see the gallery below, or hit the link to Douglas H. Wheelock's (a.k.a @Astro_Wheels) Twitter account to take it all in. Oh and we should also mention he accepts requests, so if there's something you really want to see let him know. %Gallery-107741%
Reserve Power: Steady now
Ross Rubin contributes Reserve Power, a column that presents personal perspectives on personal technology. He also contributes Switched On each week. While image stabilization has come a long way, a good tripod or mount can make all the difference in some photos, particularly shots that demand long exposure. There are scores of options on the market, and tripods models catering to pros can cost thousands of dollars. But for those who are looking for some support, particularly on the go in situations where a traditional tripod or monopod is impractical, there are lots of novel products on the market that can help bridge the gap. Note that several of these products are designed to work only with compact digital cameras and camcorders. With that caveat in mind, here are some of my favorites.
New image manipulation software results in a skinnier you on film, leaves the real you feeling inadequate
German researchers have developed a new form of image manipulation which really gets to the heart of the matter: we all want to be skinnier and have better looking muscles. The new software, developed at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, allows both pro and amateur filmmakers to 'dramatically' alter the physical forms of the people on screen -- a process which was previously limited to tedious and time-consuming frame-by-frame techniques. The technique was developed by the team doing full 3D scans of 120 men and women of various shapes and sizes, then merging them into one seriously awesome human form, resulting in a person which can be easily manipulated into pretty much any shape necessary. This malleable form can then be mapped to the actual person on screen, and manipulated for the desired effect in one single frame, and that is then applied to the rest of the film. Video is below.
Final Fantasy XIV releases new Gridania assets
With only a few days left until release, Final Fantasy XIV has lifted the shroud surrounding the third of the starting city-states for new characters. Gridania, nestled in the Black Shroud, is a city built into the very structure of the wood around it, filled with reverence for the spirits and creatures that dwell in the environment. The newest pictures have been put together in a gallery showing off the environment of the city -- as well as a hint of the Garlean Empire. A city of warm earth tones and expansive wooden buildings, Gridania manages to carry its own distinct feel from its sister cities, especially with the stained-glass architecture that dominates the adventurer's guild. While the preview images lack the callbacks that the recent Ul'dah reveal carried, they still show off an environment that is both engaging and alien. Take a look at the full gallery, and keep your eyes open to see if Final Fantasy XIV has any more secrets to reveal prior to next week's launch. %Gallery-102406%
Final Fantasy XIV assets released for the city-state of Ul'dah
The release date for Final Fantasy XIV is just under a week away, but Square-Enix still has plenty to show off for the game and a huge amount of material left unseen. The company has just released a large batch of screenshots of the city-state of Ul'dah, centered in an arid desert as one of the three starting locations for new characters. Very distinct from both of the other starting cities, Ul'dah evokes much of the middle eastern imagery found in Al Zahbi from Final Fantasy XI. A city known for lavish displays, gambling, and gladiatorial contests, Ul'dah also has no shortage of fine architecture or detailed cityscapes. The full set of screenshots can be found in our gallery just below, which also contains several shots of what appear to be automatons of Final Fantasy XI fame, as well as few pictures of the beastmen known as Amalj'aa. If you're interested in Final Fantasy XIV, it's well worth a browse through the city's scenic locales. %Gallery-102067%
Boston.com launches Big Picture iPad app, where it finally feels at home
No shame in saying it -- we're huge, huge fans of Boston's 'Big Picture' blog. Regardless of the subject matter, the photographs gathered there never fail to speak to something a little deeper within our souls, and now viewing them just because a wee bit easier. The portal has today launched a new version of their 'Big Picture' app that's fully compatible with the iPad, enabling Apple tablet owners to see new photographic essays on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. Unfortunately, the app costs $2.99 (where it's free to surf on over to the website), and the current crop of reviews are less than glowing. Might we suggest waiting a tick to see if those early issues are ironed out in a subsequent release?
Apple sucks at Photoshop too
Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the new fourth-generation iPod touch: it's so much like an iPhone that it has a Phone app (wait, what?). Better yet, if you do a Spotlight search on it, it'll return results from a messaging app it's not supposed to have. How's that for value? This would all be a great big enigmatic mystery if we weren't ourselves familiar with the practice (and pitfalls) of splicing disparate images into unholy creations. Well, at least now Microsoft isn't alone in making self-published Photoshop gaffes. P.S. -- There's one more misplaced app on this magical device, but we'll let you figure it out for yourself! [Thanks to everyone who sent these in] Update: Apple's now finally rid itself of the ignoble image above, but the ones below remain.
ClearCam goes legit, will increase image resolution at a price
ClearCam has been around for a while, and I first took a look at it more than a year ago. It was a clever app that had two modes. One mode took a series of four pictures in rapid succession, and then it saved the best and sharpest one in your photo library; the other mode took six images together and stacked them in order to increase resolution and reduce noise. In practice, it meant that the old 3G 2MP camera became the rough equivalent of a 4MP camera. The app had been pulled from the App Store for a while -- the SDK did not allow access to raw iPhone images (only compressed images), which meant it was impossible to run any enhancement algorithms on the data. The SDK now allows for access to those uncompressed images, iPhone cameras are better, and ClearCam has returned as a regular iPhone app. It runs on the 3GS and the iPhone 4, and it requires iOS 4. The app is similar to the original version, although now it chooses the best shot out of three instead of four. For the stacking or enhanced mode, it still takes six images and then aligns and processes them. %Gallery-98422%
Google Images get spruced up, don't need no stinkin' text
Those alchemists over in Mountain View have been fiddling with their search engine again and the product has been one of the biggest redesigns ye olde Google has received to date. Gone are the little captions and size measurements under each image -- well, not gone, just hidden away until you hover over a pic -- to be replaced by a densely packed compendium of your results, which just keeps going and going. Seriously, the new Images search can fit up to 1,000 pictures on one page, with thumbnails loading in a logical top-to-bottom order. A new landing page has also been implemented, showing you the image you selected superimposed on top of the website it belongs to, making for a more streamlined search experience overall. We like it, it's fast and it's pretty cool, but is anyone working on result relevance at all? Try looking for an iPhone 4 snapshot and you'll have to scroll past 43 mockups before finding the real thing.
