panorama
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iOS 5's panorama enabled with backup hackery, jailbreak not required
Did you want in on iOS 5's hidden panorama feature, but weren't down with the whole jailbreak shindig? You're in luck, because RedmondPie found a roundabout solution. All interested parties need is an iTunes backup, a little elbow grease and a program called iBackupBot. That last item will allow you to bust open your device backup, where you'll find a preference file that needs an "EnableFirebreak" value changed from "false" to "true." Once that's done, a quick restore is all that stands between you and some epic panoramic vistas, bro. A full step-by-step guide awaits you at the source, just triple check that backup's recent before you obliterate and restore, okay? [Thanks, Brian]
Jailbreakers unearth hidden panorama mode in iOS 5 camera app
Somewhere deep within the bowels of iOS 5 lurks a panoramic camera function, and hacker Conrad Kramer has unlocked it. The trick, according to Kramer (AKA Conradev), is to set the "EnableFirebreak" key to "Yes" within an iOS preference file. Alternatively, you could just grab fellow hacker Grant Paul's Firebreak tweak, which just hit the Cydia storefront this morning. Once installed on your jailbroken phone, Firebreak will allow you to take full panoramic shots directly from the iOS interface, as pictured above in Paul's screenshot. No word yet on if or when Apple plans on flipping this function live, but in the meantime, you can check out the links below for more details. [Thanks, Charlie]
Sony Ericsson uses six Xperia Neos to capture a 360-degree bike ride (video)
The company currently known as Sony Ericsson's marketing arm (that'd be Xperia Studio) invites artists and scientists to demonstrate the prowess of its mobile phone stable in creative ways. This time, landscape photographer Joergen Geerds was asked to compose a unique 360-degree video. Using a 3D printer, he developed a custom mount to hold six Xperia Neo phones in a ring that was welded to a mountain bike. Cyclist Mark Sevenoff rode along the Slickrock trail in the Moab Desert, Utah as the phones recorded the action. As no software existed to stitch together different video streams, Geerds had to convert every one of the several hundred thousand frames into JPEGs, merge them as stills and then reconvert the whole thing back into video. You can watch the whole interactive film at our source link, and if you're interested in learning more about how Geerds developed the project, we've got behind the scenes video and a press release after the break.
Ice Cream Sandwich revamps Android camera and gallery features
It's been a long time coming, but with the introduction of Ice Cream Sandwich, Android finally takes a significant leap forward in terms of camera and gallery features. The camera interface is completely new -- it's faster and easier to use with instant access from the lock screen. Shots are taken immediately thanks to zero shutter lag and continuous autofocus with automatic face detection. Touch-to-focus with exposure lock is now supported, and the UI adds a proper digital zoom slider. The camera app also includes a new sweep panorama feature. The gallery app is also significantly improved, with Instagram-like "hipster filters" and a built-in photo editor that lets you crop and rotate pictures at arbitrary angles. Any tweaks you make are saved in a separate file, keeping the original shot intact. Images can now be sorted by location (using geotagging), and by person (if manually tagged). Video also receives a serious boost in functionality with 1080p capture, continuous autofocus, and the ability to zoom while recording. Additionally, it's now possible to create time lapse videos right from your phone. It's too early to tell if all these features will trickle down to legacy devices or remain exclusive to the Galaxy Nexus, but we'll find out soon enough.
Panoramic ball camera gives a full 360-view of you nervously throwing it in the air (video)
Yes, it isn't the first ball camera we've seen, nor is it the first camera to hawk 360-degree panoramas. But, the Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera marries these two concepts together, and packs them into a sturdy-looking sphere made mostly of foam. This shields the 36 fixed-focus phone camera modules, each capable of taking two megapixel snapshots. These are then stitched together to create full panoramic works like the shot above. Somewhere within that squishy core is an accelerometer to measure the apex of its flight, and where the camera array will capture its image. The big question is, can it survive a few rounds of keepie-uppie? You can take a closer look at the ball camera's 36 x two megapixel images in the video below. Now, do you think there's any chance of getting one for the next Engadget meet-up?
Android Ice Cream Sandwich pictures leak, leave us slightly cold
Well what do we have here? It looks like Ice Cream Sandwich might have escaped from Google's freezer a little early. Let's be clear here -- we're not 100 percent sure this is the next major version of Android, but the evidence is somewhat convincing. Both Android Police and RootzWiki posted screenshots of a Nexus S running a blue-ish themed skin which appears similar to the Gingerbread UI, but with a revised dock containing four icons instead of the usual three. Most of the changes are mild, but introduce functionality that already exist in Honeycomb. The camera app is said to gain a panorama mode, and the Gmail app is supposed to match the design of the new OS. Follow the links below for more details, and jump past the break for an additional picture.
T-Mobile's myTouch 4G Slide shows off its camera chops (video)
We've known since its recent announcement that T-Mobile's myTouch 4G Slide will be a mobile photographer's delight and now we get to see the camera UI in action on video. As a quick reminder, the carrier's upcoming Gingerbread smartphone is made by HTC and features Sense 3.0, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, a 3.7-inch WVGA Super LCD display, HSPA+ connectivity on the AWS spectrum, and a trick 8 megapixel shooter. The f2.2 wide-angle lens is combined with a low-light capable sensor and a dual-LED flash, but it's the camera software that really shines. Like on the Sensation, you'll find support for 1080p HD video recording, but the myTouch 4G Slide adds multiple scenes, zero shutter lag technology, continuous autofocus, HDR stills capture, plus panorama and burst modes, along with a dedicated two-stage shutter key. While we doubt it will dethrone Nokia's N8 in term of raw picture quality, we're looking forward to putting HTC's latest feature-packed shooter through its paces when the handset debuts this month for $199 on contract.
Switched On: Devices designed to disrupt
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. Industry conferences that include competitions among scores of startups generally don't look too kindly upon companies producing hardware. Nonetheless, there were quite a few physical products shown off this week at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York. These were either the main offering of companies or complements to their service offering, and judging by their demo platform of choice, the iPhone appears to be a leading agent of disruption -- the companies introducing hardware used Apple's handset to do everything from avoiding stress to measuring its biological impact. Switched On will introduce four such products after the break.
GTA's Liberty City recreated in Google Street View, reveals your nearest Ammu-Nation
Type "Liberty City" into Google Maps and it whisks you to some place east of Wichita, Kansas. Yup, Wichita, for Pete's sake. No self-respecting Grand Theft Auto fan can stand for an omission like that, and thankfully now they don't have to. Those hardcore Niko-lovers at gta4.net have not only recreated the real fictional Liberty City using the Google Maps API, they've even cobbled together 80,000 screenshots to provide full-blown Street View too. Man, we haven't seen this much Gay Tony passion since the Trashmaster. Oh, wait a minute -- apparently this so-called Street View leaves out a couple of ramps that gta4.net considered to be "not very interesting." Hush, and you call yourselves fans?
20 gigapixel, 360-degree panorama of Wembley Stadium is among world's largest, most detailed
Jeffrey Martin is a busy man. Having already shot an 80 gigapixel panorama of London's skyline and a 40 gigapixel peek inside a Czech library, he has now turned his attention to England's hallowed Wembley Stadium. The recently rebuilt home of football served as the stage for a new 360-degree panorama, shot during the FA Cup Final this Saturday, which spans 10 20 gigapixels in total and has been made available online at the source link below. Recording was done using a DSLR mounted to a custom robot rig that would continually pump out imagery to an equally exclusive Fujitsu workstation equipped with 192GB of RAM and 24 processing cores. All that grunt was used to automatically stitch more than 1,000 high-res images together, earning the finished product the honor of being one of the world's largest 360-degree sports panoramic photos. Give the source a bash to tag yourself if you were at the Final or to check who else was there. [Thanks, Adam] Update: We originally had this at 10 gigapixel, going from information on the FA's website, but it turns out to be a 20 gigapixel pic. Its claim for being the largest sports panorama may actually be disputed by Essendon FC in Australia, who managed to pull together a 20 gigapixel image of their own at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in late April. You can see that jumbo pic here, or check out a couple more from Daytona and the NCAA Final Four this year.
GigaPan Epic Pro robotic camera mount gets upgraded to firmware version 171
The GigaPan Epic Pro has been privy to the making of some pretty monumental and highly detailed panoramic images, and now the gigapixel gadget is getting an upgrade. The latest firmware update to the robotic camera mount brings even more exposures per position, a "dedicated mirror lock-up" for bulky lenses, and a time display that tells you how long it will take to work its panoramic magic. Among other things, the update also includes a set of new aspect ratios and the ability to take time lapse panoramas. If you're already packing a GigaPan Epic Pro, you can download the update at the source link below for free -- a brand new rig, on the other hand, will set you back a substantial $900. That ain't cheap, but there's a reason it's called the GigaPan Epic Pro. Full PR after the break.
Carnegie Mellon's GigaPan Time Machine brings time-lapse to panoramas
We've already seen GigaPan technology used for plenty of impressive panoramas, but some researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have now gone one step further with their so-called "GigaPan Time Machine" project. Thanks to the magic of HTML5 and some time-consuming (but automated) photography, you can now "simultaneously explore space and time" right in your web browser -- that is, zoom in and around a large-format panorama that also happens to be a time-lapse video. If you don't feel like exploring yourself, you can also jump straight to some highlights -- like the like the construction of the Hulk statue at the CMU Carnival pictured above. Ht up the source link below to try it out -- just make sure you're in either Chrome and Safari, as they're the only compatible browsers at this time.
Visualized: the National Ignition Facility in a pannable, spherical panorama
Hopefully your brain has recouped from the explosion it endured when you first laid eyes on some glorious shots of the NIF out in Nor-Cal. Now, xRez Studio's imaging gurus have provided the common folk the ability to virtually stand in front of a 500-trillion watt laser experiment at ultra high resolution. Better yet, the interactive, detailed look at an attempt at nuclear fusion allows for zooming and a full, 360-degree pan-around experience. Since this might be closest in proximity you'll get to the NIF, hit the source link to truly get a feel for what we're yapping about, and -- if you're feeling audacious -- be sure to check out the BBC video tour after the break.
GoPano Micro brings 360-degree video recording to the iPhone 4 (video)
We've seen still photos shot in the round, but wouldn't it be nice to snag some panoramic moving pictures every once in a while too? Well, the folks at EyeSee360 certainly think so, which is why they've given the iPhone 4 some 360-degree video recording capability with the GoPano Micro. Comprised of a plastic case for your handset, a detachable 360-degree lens, and a GoPano app, the system lets iPhone fanboys do a circular pan with the swipe of a finger. That put you in the moviemaking mood? Well, you can't get your hands on one just yet, but the venture has already reached its $20,000 funding goal, so those willing to invest $50 can head over to Kickstarter to reserve one of the first GoPano Micros off the production line. Before plunking down your hard-earned cash, however, check out all the full-circumference cinematic fun after the break.
World's largest indoor photograph shows off fancy old Czech library
If you think Google's seven-gigapixel renderings of world famous art museums are impressive, get a load of this: a guy named Jeffrey Martin just produced a record breaking panoramic photo of a reading room in Prague's Strahov monastery library, and it's got the internet giant's Art Project beat by more than 30,000 megapixels. Not that Google's pictures are anything to scoff at, but the 40-gigapixel, 360 degree, 283GB image is something of a digital masterwork. According to Wired, the photograph, taken in February on a GigaPanBot-mounted Canon 550D, is comprised of 2,947 unique images that took a computer program more than four days to stitch together. If you're a fan of 18th century European literature, Franz Anton Maulbertsch's trompe l'oeil paintings, or just ridiculously detailed digital photography, you can peep the image in its entirety at the source link.
Olympus SZ-30MR shoots 1080p video and 16MP stills simultaneously; Tough TG-810 is 'crushproof'
Olympus just loosed a trio of compact cameras. Let's start big with the €329 SZ-30MR. According to Olympus, the 30MR packs a backlit CMOS sensor with 24x (25-600mm) optical zoom and Dual Engine TruePic III+ processing. It also lays claim to being the first to simultaneously record 1080p video while shooting 16 megapixel stills -- a feature Oly dubs, Multi Recording. The SZ-20 lacks the MR and dials back the zoom to 12.5x but costs a relatively modest €219. Olympus also announced a silver or black TG-810 compact for €299. First and foremost is the cam's claim for ruggedness: crushproof at a weight of 100kg (220 pounds); waterproof to 10 meters (32.8 feet); shockproof at a distance of 2 meters (6.56 feet); and freezeproof a temps to -10 degree celsius (14 degrees F). Otherwise, it boasts a 14 megapixel CCD sensor, a 5x (28-140mm) optical zoom, 720p movie mode, TAP control (for gloved use), GPS, and an electronic compass. All three cameras feature a 3-inch LCD; HDMI; high ISO and sensor-based mechanical image stabilization; smart panorama, 3D photo, pet detection, and beauty modes; and SDXC and Eye-Fi card compatibility. Look for them to hit retail in March.
One Shots: Almost to the end
When it comes to protracted battles, EVE Online may well have cornered that portion of the MMO market. With different corps fighting every day for sovereignty in different systems, you never quite know what you're going to stumble into. For those of us who don't go too far into dangerous territory, we have One Shots like the enormous panoramic shot sent in to us today by FalconX Blast, who writes in to explain: "[This] is a shot of the station in 6VDT in the Fountain region during day five of our 23/7 siege of the hostile system. We've maintained a constant rotation of 600-1000 pilots in system and destroyed every hostile tower, and only the station remains in enemy hands. Tomorrow morning is the enemy's last chance to save the system and its assets." Since I had to cut this screenshot up a bit to show some detail (otherwise it would have been 98 pixels tall when resized), I'm also making the enormously full-sized panorama shot available, if you're curious to see it in full detail. Ever wanted to share a cool moment from your day of MMO gaming with the world? Well, if you're in the mood to share, we're glad to help. Just snap a great screenshot and email it in to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll post it out here and give you credit for sending it in. %Gallery-112285%
Blizzard comments on video games addiction documentary
Video game addiction is hardly a new subject around these here parts, but it still remains a much-discussed and controversial topic even so. Today, BBC investigative journalism program Panorama will add to the conversation with an in-depth look into the causes of gaming addiction and the consequences of players who become a little too hooked. The episode, titled "Addicted to gaming?", is expected to come down harshly against the practices of video game studios. According to CVG, it's no surprise that the documentary is airing the very night that World of Warcraft: Cataclysm launches, as Panorama uses WoW as one of its key examples. One of the stories follows the tale of Chris Dandos, a teenager who stopped going to school to play WoW for up to 20 hours a day. In response to the episode's focus, Blizzard released the following comment: "Our games are designed to be fun... but like all forms of entertainment... day-to-day life should always take precedence. World of Warcraft contains practical tools that assist players and parents in monitoring playing time."
360 Panorama brings sharing, simplicity to iPhone pano photos
We first looked at 360 Panorama back in July when it debuted against other panoramic photo apps, including Boinx's You Gotta See This and Debacle Software's Pano. On sale now for just US$0.99 (regular price $2.99), Occipital's panorama application has been updated to add what developer Jeff Powers calls "streetview sharing." This new sharing feature (a "hosted immersive viewing experience") allows you to upload your panoramas and access them from any web browser, whether that browser supports Flash or not. When viewed, you can flick and drag to see the panorama from any angle. Follow through the "read more" link to view a sample embedded panorama that I created at a local cemetery, which showcases the hosted interaction. You can easily share your panoramic creations with family, friends, colleagues and clients. All they need is a browser.
Google offers up Liquid Galaxy blueprint, make a panoramic Google Earth of your own
Not everyone has the wherewithal to purchase eight 55-inch HDTVs and a dedicated Linux server for each, but if we just described your corporate budget, Google's got everything else you need. The company just open-sourced the code, scripts and even the physical blueprint for its massive Liquid Galaxy rig late last week, letting folks buzz Google Earth natively across loads of screens. If you're ready to build your own, you'll find all that good stuff at our source link; if you first need a refresher course on why it's worth the dough, there's a lovely video after the break.
