Monet
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'Reverse Prisma' AI turns Monet paintings into photos
Impressionist art is more about feelings than realism, but have you ever wondered what Monet actually saw when he created pieces like Low Tide at Varengeville (above)? Thanks to researchers from UC Berkeley, you don't need to go to Normandy and wait for the perfect light. Using "image style transfer" they converted his impressionist paintings into a more realistic photo style, the exact opposite of what apps like Prisma do. The team also used the same AI to transform a drab landscape photo into a pastel-inflected painting that Monet himself may have executed.
Samsung brings Van Gogh 'paintings' to Korea via Smart TV, makes us reach for the absinthe
This is sort of strange. People in Korea are looking at masterpieces of Western art on a TV screen -- and not from the comfort of their laptops. It's all part of something called Rêve et Réalité (Dream and Reality), a Samsung-sponsored exhibition that brings some of the world's most celebrated works to Seoul's Hangaram Museum via four, 46-inch LEDs. The expo, on display until September, features some of the greatest hits from Claude Monet, Jean F. Millet and, most notably, Van Gogh, whose Starry Night has never been on display in Korea (and, as far as we're concerned, still hasn't). Televised docents provide background info on the artists, whose paintings are all transmitted via a giant Smart TV video wall that blurs out all semblance of texture and nuance -- much like that bottle of absinthe we're about to pound.
Hands-on with the HTC Monet (Trilogy)
Typically, we believe there are no excuses for smartphones to sport giant, unbecoming humps, but we do have at least two exceptions to the rule: in-built WiFi, and support for one mobile TV standard or another. The Monet certainly falls into the latter category, and it may fall into both since its guts are Faraday-based, and indeed, the tumor on the Monet's side is monstrous. The phone should be dropping on Virgin Mobile's UK network any time now, but meanwhile, Sogi has taken an up-close look at the Monet in Dopod trim. After going through the Babelfish wringer, the review itself doesn't mean much, but golly, the pictures sure are purty. The Monet -- as we said, basically a repackaged Faraday plus mobile TV -- packs a 2.2-inch QVGA display, MicroSD slot, and Windows Mobile 5.0. See more after the break.[Via Smartphone Thoughts]
Barrage of HTCs rumored in the pipeline
HTC, making sure that the enjoyment of our fresh Star Trek is kept to an absolute minimum, looks to be preparing a spectrum of lustworthy new devices. This information is entirely unconfirmed, and we don't know much about what we're about to tell you -- some of these code names are as new to us as they are to you -- but we can tell you it comes from a reliable source.First up, the Muse has been mercifully renamed the "Melody," and the Triolgy has become "Monet." The Hermes, which is just starting to drop across Europe, has been upped to 400MHz for full-scale production; you might recall we recently reported that O2 was bringing a 400MHz Hermes to the table, and it now appears this will be standard fare for launches going forward. Trinity (pictured) specs are coming into focus, and we should expect this beast to throw down HSDPA, WiFi, and integrated GPS. There have been some rumblings of an "Artemis" recently, and that device still appears to be on the map, bringing integrated GPS and a trackball (wha?) but topping out with EDGE data. The "Herald" sounds positively gorgeous, similar in concept and functionality to the Hermes but measuring just 17mm thick. The Foreseer and Monet will be joined by the "Oxygen" in HTC's mobile TV lineup, though we don't know which standard it'll be packing. Looking to steal some of the Q's thunder, the "Excalibur" will be getting its QWERTY on and running Smartphone. Finally, look for "Vera" as a possible successor to the Star Trek, packing HSDPA and a front-facing camera for video calling.That's a lot of unconfirmed data to digest, we know, and we're still trying to make sense of it all ourselves. No word on release windows for most of these -- if we could divine you a Vera tomorrow, we would -- but as always, we'll be burning the midnight oil in our quest for deets.
