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Gawker - record, share, combine time-lapse movies with an iSight
Gawker is a really interesting open source app that takes a very simple, yet powerful, approach to capturing time-lapse videos from an iSight camera - be it your own or someone else's. As you can see in this image, Gawker can utilize smart networking abilities of Bonjour to see if any other Macs on your network are running Gawker with an iSight, or you can enable iSight access over the web. You even have control over image quality, resolution and fps.Check out the project's examples page for some intriguing samples of what this software can do, such as sped-up footage of snow melting in Colorado and a PowerBook hard drive replacement.After a little tinkering, I must say Gawker is darn slick and drop-dead-easy to use. But before you ask: I'm not sure if other cameras are compatible. Head over to Gawker's project page for more information.
Apple patent embeds thousands of cameras among LCD pixels
Oh Barry Fox, does a week ever go by when you don't find a great patent or two? Today the intrepid Mr. Fox manages to dig up an application by consumer-darling Apple for an LCD display embedded with thousands of microscopic image sensors that would allow users to video-conference while looking straight into the "camera." Data accumulated by the individual sensors would be stitched into actual images using special software, which will probably be bundled into future versions of iLife. Since the patent specifies almost as many sensors per screen as there are pixels, some of those sensors could have different focal lengths, with a defacto zoom lens created by switching between them. Apple goes on to suggest portable uses for the technology, such as employing the displays in cellphones and PDAs, so you can add another item to the list of features we'll be expecting from the iPhone and Newton 2.0 when they finally hit stores.[Via New Scientist]
Snapped! Xbox 360 camera caught on camera
We received some exclusive images this morning of the "Xbox Live Camera Demo Station" at Microsoft's recent XFEST event, held in Bellevue, Washington last month. Our tipster sent in shots and descriptions from the three different demos on display at the event: "Xbox Live Camera Video Chat", facial mapping software from digimask, even a tank game that incorporates video into the game! More below the fold.[Thanks, anonymous benefactor!]
