imaging
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New military goggles combine nightvision and thermal imaging
Nightvision and thermal imaging play similar -- but very distinct -- roles on the modern battlefield. Soldiers utilize night vision to illuminate their darkened surroundings while thermal imaging is employed to illuminate darkened targets. But until now, soldiers have had to carry separate imaging systems for each, which negatively impacts how quickly they can switch optics and acquire their targets. BAE Systems, however, announced Monday a new kind of optic that packs the functionality of both into a single unit.
Scientists look at flower cells in 3D without wrecking them
Plants are delicate things, which makes them a pain to study under an electron microscope -- you'll probably damage the very cells you're trying to look at. You'll get a much better look if the University of Florida's new imaging technique catches on, though. Their approach leans on both a compound fluorescence light microscope and a camera to capture several layers of cells, creating a detailed 3D snapshot of the cellular structure of something as fragile as a flower petal. The resulting pictures may not be shocking (surprise: there are lots of globs), but they should be a big deal for biologists. Researchers would have a better sense of how animal and plant tissues work when they're untouched by humans, which could go a long way toward fighting diseases and learning about new species. [Image credit: Jacob B. Landis]
This is what the inside of your head looks like when you sing
There's a lot more that goes into producing human vocalizations than just the dual flaps of your larynx and a gust of air. More than 100 muscles throughout your face and neck coordinate to create the wide range of complex sounds people make. And thanks to a new MRI technique, researchers can watch that muscular symphony at work in real time. As you can see from the video below, the results are simply jaw dropping.
A brief survey of NASA's space imaging technology
Visitors to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, will soon have a chance to see those items Neil Armstrong kept from the Apollo 11 moon landing. This week's news about Armstrong's memorabilia got us thinking: What are some the other notable bits of tech NASA used to document space exploration? Well, the full list is a bit daunting, as the agency has been hard at work for decades. However, we've compiled a collection of the highlights, from the first US spacecraft to transmit close-up photographs of the moon's surface to X-ray telescopes used to capture cosmic explosions. We even tossed in a selfie for good measure.
Kodak's finally making smartphones (sort of)
For a while there it looked like Kodak's moment had come and gone, but the past few months have seen the imaging icon fight back from the brink of irrelevance. Now the company's planning to push a Kodak-branded smartphone, and thankfully it's not going to sue everyone in the business along the way this time. To be clear, Kodak won't actually make its own devices -- instead, it's going to farm out most of the development work to an English company called Bullitt (you know, the people behind those uber-rugged Caterpillar phones). Oh, and it won't look anything like the mockup you see above... we hope.
First satellite with high-resolution public imaging launches on August 13th
If you've been wondering just when a company would take advantage of the US' relaxed rules for accurate satellite imaging, you now have a date to mark on your calendar: Lockheed Martin has set the launch of DigitalGlobe's high-resolution WorldView-3 satellite for August 13th. You won't see results from it right away, but its creators can start selling extra-sharp pictures (with detail down to the 10-inch level) six months after the craft is up and running. The data should lead to much nicer imagery in online mapping services from companies like Google and Microsoft (both of which are DigitalGlobe customers), although it's not just cosmetic. Higher-res photos will help track large farms, spot mineral deposits and otherwise deliver a clearer view of our planet that has previously been limited to the government -- don't be surprised if it's easier to spot landmarks on a map without using markers.
Researchers want to flood your body with disease-detecting diamonds
Forget the age-old cliché: diamonds might soon be a cancer researcher's best friend, too. One of the real rubs in cancer screening is trying to detect breakaway tumor cells before they spread too far, causing the cancer to metastasize throughout the body. There's where a young biotech company called Bikanta comes in: the team has started to use fluorescent nanodiamonds -- basically a dust of crushed, imperfect diamonds -- to help ferret out those tiny, troublesome proto-tumors before they get a chance to spread.
App lets you attach digital messages to real-world objects... for fun?
For those who don't know, Project Tango is a Google-built prototype smartphone jam packed with Kinect-like 3D sensors and components. One of Mountain View's software partners involved in the project, FlyBy Media, has built what it's calling the first consumer app capable of utilizing Tango's image recognition skills to... chat with friends. Dubbed FlyBy, the app allows users to share text and videos messages by attaching them to a real-world object; like a menu at your favorite restaurant or collectible from your honeymoon. Recipients are notified once they're in close proximity, then they need only to scan said object and voila, message received. While the concept isn't new -- or popular... yet -- the company believes that this time people will catch on. Just think of it as geocaching your conversations. That could be fun, right?
Relightable Dome creates interactive images where you control the light source
Stitching together a bunch of images to create a single picture is hardly a new concept. Panoramas are old hat, and Google is even using 360-degree photos to help guide your shopping decisions. But a team of students at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, with the help of a few others, are taking a slightly different approach. The Relightable Dome, or Relightable Photobooth, uses Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) technology which captures an object or person under a variety of lighting conditions then combine it into a single, interactive photo. Inside the box is a concave surface studded with 81 LED flashes. A custom microcontroller inside triggers each flash in sequence and a camera mounted at the rear captures an image at each stop. And, while the enclosure is custom, the camera doesn't need to be. At the back is simply a bracket that practically any shooter can be mounted on, though in this case it was a Canon DSLR. The pictures are then stitched together on a laptop using a piece of open source software and a special algorithm to create an interactive image where you control the light source. The whole process, from triggering the first flash to final file takes less than five minutes.
Dolby demos new imaging tech that pushes more light to your television (eyes-on)
You may think your current HDTV is bright enough, but Dolby disagrees. The company, which is known more for its audio tech than its imaging capabilities, has been putting a lot of effort into developing a new type of imaging technology that offers up to 4,000 nits of backlight out of an LED panel. Compared to the TV standard of 100 nits, this is certainly a hefty improvement. Why is such a thing helpful? The 100-nit limit makes life difficult for filmmakers in post-production because they're not able to represent their masterpiece with perfectly accurate colors; there's only so much you can do to accurately portray the real world on such a limited budget of light. Bumping the display up to 4,000, however, allows the viewer to enjoy a much better experience. Dolby showed us a prototype of this experimental tech, which we're told will likely be exhibited at CES next month (either in prototype or in a consumer product, though this will be up to individual manufacturers). The 2K panel sat next to a production monitor that many filmmakers use as their current reference -- in other words, what they use for viewing their footage before it goes through the process of compression and other tweaks -- and the difference was night and day. Despite the fact that both monitors have the same resolution, the prototype (on the left in the above image) offered far more realistic colors, higher dynamic range and more contrast sensitivity, all of which were factors that created a fantastic viewing experience. As an example, the skies were bluer on the new monitor, and clouds that were barely noticeable on the production model actually popped out far more accurately on the prototype. We're told that the new imaging technology has already been shown off to key filmmakers in the industry, and that we'll likely see a lot more (including, we hope, an official name) on display at CES. Where it goes from there, Dolby tells us, is all up to manufacturers. And while we may see a lot more of this tech in the near future, there's no guarantee that other companies will build their monitors to the same spec (manufacturers aren't forced to go all the way up to 4,000 nits, for instance). Regardless, we'll happily take one when they start making their way into production.
Yahoo absorbs movie-making app Ptch to bolster its photo and video efforts
It's a familiar story: A start-up creates an app that does something cool on the web or in the mobile space, Marissa Mayer catches wind of it, whips out her checkbook and Yahoo acquires the company. This time, it was the Dreamworks-backed social-video app Ptch. The company's announcement blog post says that its tech will be used to improve Yahoo's photo and video platforms (read: Flickr), and that users have until January 2nd to download their creations either via the app or website. After that? Good luck, because come January 3rd, they're closing down. Until then, we're just curious when we'll actually see the Voltron-esque thing that Flickr turns into after these upgrades are applied.
Google working on RAW support and improved camera features for Android
Nokia may be the first to have delivered RAW photography in a smartphone, but there's evidence to suggest that Google isn't too far behind. A month-old batch of code, recently spotted by app developer Josh Brown, reveals that work has been underway on a new Android camera API that could allow smartphones to store uncompressed images alongside JPEG ones, drastically increasing the amount of correction and manipulation that can be accomplished after an image has been captured. A second snippet from the API suggests that Android may get some level of stock support for modular or external cameras, perhaps like Sony's QX10 and QX100, although the meaning of the words is slightly ambiguous: The camera device is removable and has been disconnected from the Android device, or the camera service has shut down the connection due to a higher-priority access request for the camera device. Ars Technica has pointed out some other potential changes that are buried in the documentation, and rightly suggests that any imaging-related improvements would be a good thing for Android right now. Even with Sony's Xperia Z1, which contains one of the most powerful sensors currently found in an Android phone, it's the software that holds things back more than anything else, so extra features in the underlying OS could provide manufacturers with just the nudge they need.
Kodak exits bankruptcy with new focus on business imaging
After a year and a half of trials and tribulations, Kodak is finally in the clear -- it just exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Now that the company has finished offloading its document and personal imaging groups, it's free to pursue a recently court-approved reorganization plan that focuses solely on business products like movie film and packaging. The resulting firm is a far cry from the camera giant that we once knew, but we may hear about its work in the future. Kodak promises more details of "what's next," and it tells the AP that it's working on technology like printable touchscreen layers and smart packaging.
Apple reportedly buys mobile data compression startup AlgoTrim (confirmed)
Data compression isn't the sexiest of subjects, but after Facebook pledged to slim down its digital footprint, it's suddenly hot news. You might be interested to know, then, that Apple has reportedly snapped up Swedish startup AlgoTrim, which specializes in lossless compression algorithms. TechCrunch believes that AlgoTrim's know-how will slim down iOS device data usage -- as the outfit's JPEG files are apparently six times smaller than the average. CultOfMac, however, believes that the deal may hint at a move towards computational photography -- hinting that we may see Apple's version of Nokia's pixel oversampling tech pop up in future devices. While the thought of a PureView iPhone would set plenty of hearts aflutter, there's probably more chance that Elon Musk will build you your own private Hyperloop. Update: Yup, an Apple spokesperson has confirmed the deal to AllThingsD.
Kodak tentatively sells its scanning business to Brother for $210 million
Kodak as we once knew it has been shedding its identity piece by piece, and today it's selling off key elements of a more familiar cornerstone. The one-time photography legend has made an initial deal to offload assets of its Document Imaging division to Brother for $210 million through a stalking horse bid. If no one else makes a sweeter offer, Brother is likely to take partial control of Kodak's scanning hardware and software in an agreement that's expected to receive bankruptcy court approval by June. It's almost the end of an era for a company that's all too familiar with ending eras -- let's just hope it gets around to starting one of them in the near future.
Aptina and Sony cross-license their camera patents, Nikon smiles
Sometimes, it's the behind-the-scenes deals that matter the most. See Aptina's newly signed patent cross-licensing agreement with Sony as an example: the pact lets the two imaging veterans use each other's know-how in camera sensors for everything from dedicated cameras through to smartphones and TVs. We know customers of both companies will be glad to see technology spreading beyond corporate borders, but we have a feeling that Nikon will be the happiest. When Nikon is using Aptina sensors in its 1 series mirrorless cameras and Sony sensors in its DSLRs, it's likely to reap the benefits, regardless of which sensor maker got the better deal.
Metamaterial camera needs no lens, could herald cheaper imaging tech
Metamaterials are proving to be quite useful for toying with the electromagnetic spectrum, whether for technology previously thought to be the stuff of science fiction, or for boring real-world applications. Engineers at Duke University have come up something that falls more into the latter category: a metamaterial imaging sensor that doesn't require a lens to generate a picture. The sensor is a flexible copper-plated sheet patterned with small squares that capture various light frequencies all at once, functioning like one big aperture. Add a few circuits with a pinch of software and the sensor-only camera can produce up to ten images per second, but the catch is Duke's only works at microwave frequencies. Microwave imaging is used plenty, however, and due to its flexibility and lack of moving parts, the sensor could be used to build better integrated, cheaper airport scanners and vehicle collision avoidance technology -- making you safer however you choose to travel. Unless you take the train. Then you're on your own.
Nokia imaging head Damian Dinning makes 'personal decision' to leave the company
Nokia's cameras and imaging systems have garnered the company plenty of attention in recent years, but it looks like it's now facing something of a turning point in that area. As Amateur Photographer reports, the man responsible for leading that charge, Damian Dinning, has announced that he's leaving the company effective November 30th. According to a statement released by Nokia UK, that move is a "personal decision" Dinning made following the company's decision to relocate a number of key strategic roles to Finland. As for what's next for Dinning, he rather cryptically tweeted just two days ago that he's "incredibly excited about the 10th Dec," adding that he "can't say more than that right now other than to say it's nothing to do with Nokia directly." There's also no word yet from Nokia on who will take over his role.
Nokia's Damian Dinning goes in-depth on phase two of PureView for the Lumia 920 (video)
Nokia's imaging chief Damian Dinning has released a paper explaining the "second phase" of PureView technology that's included in the new Lumia 920. Charged with improving low-light photography and eliminating camera shake, the experimental 808 handset was developed with a 41-megapixel sensor that oversampled images down to 5-megapixels. However, such equipment is bulky and expensive, so it changed tack for its second crack at the whip, which you can find out about if you join us after the break.
Nokia completes acquisition of Scalado's imaging tech and developers
It's taken just over a month for Nokia to get everything in place, but its now announced that around 50 "world-class imaging specialists" have joined Espoo's already substantial mobile imaging department, alongside a stack of Scalado's technologies and intellectual property. The imaging specialist's co-founder, Sami Niemi, who will now head up the Capture and Relive section of Smart Devices at Nokia, said: "The technologies and competences we've developed should help move from taking photos to capturing memories and emotions." (We're sure those hulking PureView sensors will help too.) Take a look at Nokia's brief statement on its future in mobile imaging after the break.
