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Varioptic and Seiko to start manufacturing liquid camera lenses
Could it be that liquid lenses for cellphone cameras are finally about to go from promising-but-undelivered tech to the real thing? We're not holding out hope -- they didn't rock the world when they popped up in a couple nondescript Samsung phones before -- but Varioptic and Seiko have just announced a deal to crank out 500,000 of the goopy buggers a month starting in Q3. It's not clear exactly what cellphones these are going to turn up in, apart from being targeted at 5 megapixel camera modules that require continuous auto-focus in video mode.[Via Phone Scoop]
Disc errors plague some unlucky Brawlers, Nintendo offers repairs
Did you pop in Brawl early this morning, only to find out that it wouldn't play? You're not the only one. A number of Wii owners on this side of the globe are reporting problems similar to ones seen in Japan -- disc errors, supposedly caused by dirty laser lenses. Since Smash Bros. is the Wii's first game that's on dual-layered DVD, it's extra sensitive to such problems.The good news is that Nintendo will fix the problem for you. The bad news is that it might be a few more weeks before you get to play Brawl ... or any Wii game, for that matter.Nintendo is urging people experiencing this problem to fill in this form and send in their Wiis for repair. They'll be footing the bill for the shipping and repair costs (as they should), so the only thing you'll be losing out on is quality time with your new copy of Brawl.Are any of you affected by this problem? If so, feel free to rant about it here. Just let it all out.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Brawl demands a clean home
The Japanese Super Smash Bros. Brawl launch has been successful, selling approximately a freaking ton of copies, but not without a few issues. Rumored supply constraints and a required system update (which was detailed on an instruction sheet shipped with every copy) kept the launch from being called perfect, and now apparently there are reports from the Japanese gaming public that some Wiis are having trouble reading the game.Nintendo responded to this latest concern by stating that Brawl is the first Wii game to come on a dual-layered DVD, and is more prone to read errors from dirty laser lenses than normal game discs. They have offered to clean any affected Wiis free of charge. In the meantime, quit blowing into the disc slot! Just because the Wii plays NES games doesn't mean it's an NES.
Sigma APO 200-500 F2.8 telephoto lens hands-on
We spent some quality time around Sigma's monstrous APO 200-500 F2.8 lens this afternoon, and what can we say? It's gigantic. If you've ever wanted to the look of a portable rocket launcher without all the hassle at the airport, this is definitely the way to go. A feast for your eyes awaits in the gallery below. %Gallery-15171%
Sony's new Alpha A300 and A350 get official
We knew they were coming, and here they are -- say hello to Sony's Alpha A300 and A350. The 10.2 megapixel A300 and 14.2 megapixel A350 are just as we'd heard, with flip-out 2.7-inch swivel screens and live preview that retains the ability to autofocus. The CompactFlash DSLRs also go up to ISO3200, and feature burst modes of 3fps (A300) and 2.5fps (A350). Both cams will hit in April, the A300 with a 18-70mm kit lens for $800, and the A350 in a $900 kit or an $800 body-only package. There are also a couple new lenses, but no word of the mysterious A900 yet.Read - Alpha A300 and A350Read - New Alpha lenses %Gallery-14951%
Sharp's dual-lens, uber-bright XG-PH70X DLP projector
Sharp's no stranger to the world of DLP (or business-oriented) projectors, but the firm's latest offers up an interesting mix of features as it attempts to cater to the "high-end installation market" looking for a "powerful, permanently-installed display device." While the word "permanent" scares us all just a bit, we can assume the XG-PH70X is destined for large money-making boardrooms where CEOs won't want to meddle with changing bulbs or dimming the lights. Featuring a whopping 5,200 ANSI lumens, this DLP projector should outshine just about anything else in its price range, and it also sports a 1200:1 contrast ratio, XGA native resolution, Sharp's own CV-IC II video processing chip, six lens options for a plethora of awkward mounting options, and "redundant reliability through a dual-lamp lighting system." Additionally, for users willing to kill off a few lights, you can flip to switch and head to "eco-mode" where a single bulb will output a respectable 4,300 ANSI lumens, and if you need to control the action from afar, the built-in RJ-45 jack allows for web server dictating sans any proprietary software. The XG-PH70X, which comes bundled with a single standard lends, will hit stores in March for $8,495, while the lens-less XG-PH70XN is slated to land right alongside its sibling for a slightly lower $7,995.[Via AboutProjectors]
What camera is in the iPhone?
Everyone is speculating about what makes the iPhone tick, but one person is wondering about a feature Steve mentioned but didn't demo: the camera. Al-Manazir is trying to figure out what lens is being used in the iPhone, and with some impressive deductive reasoning has has narrowed it down to Micron and Largan. The only way we'll know for sure if when someone cracks open an iPhone for the first time.
Cheap and small wide-angle lens takes the fish out of "fisheye"
The main problem with bog standard wide-angle lenses is their inherent tendency to distort images, this distortion creates obvious problems for remote operators of robots and camera surveillance of large rooms, for instance. A team of South Koreans, however, are claiming to have improved on bulky and expensive "rectilinear" lenses -- which offer up a low-distortion, wide-angle view -- by developing a lens that offers this clear view as well as being cheap, light, and small. That makes it far more suitable for use in monitoring devices with strict weight / size constraints, such as the aforementioned robots. At around $100, the price should also give security teams little excuse to not upgrade their gear by screwing one of these onto existing bullet cameras.[Via The Raw Feed]
Researchers create human-like "shape-shifting" lens
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have gone back to the source for inspiration with their new artificial lens, creating a so-called "shape-shifting" lens that mimics the way a human eye works. Like other liquid lenses, theirs uses a glass-oil-water interface, but it also adds a a ring of polymer gel around the lens that acts like a muscle, changing the focal length as it expands and contracts. What's more, the gel apparently works simply by reacting to environmental changes, like a rise in temperature or change in acidity, allowing for both smaller and more power-efficient imaging devices than other similar lenses. One example the researchers give is an implantable lens that could react to protein changes in the human body. Not quite Fantastic Voyage territory, but we'll take what we can get.
