Archive for the ‘Computers’ Category

Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera

36 fixed focus cell phone cameras and a peak sensing accelerometer make for a novel way of taking a 360 degree panoramic image.

 ”We used the camera to capture full spherical panoramas at scenic spots, in a crowded city square and in the middle of a group of people taking turns in throwing the camera. Above all we found that it is a very enjoyable, playful way to take pictures.”

[Via MAKE]

Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera // Jonas Pfeil.

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

The driving force behind Apple Computer, Steve Jobs died today. He leaves a legacy of a technology company that has defined the lives of a generation. He will be missed and remembered by us all.
Apple – Remembering Steve Jobs

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Human Eye Like HDR Video System

I’ve long been a fan of the HDR image. Shooting full motion video has never seemed to be an option until now:

Anyone who regularly uses a video camera will know that the devices do not see the world the way we do. The human visual system can perceive a scene that contains both bright highlights and dark shadows, yet is able to process that information in such a way that it can simultaneously expose for both lighting extremes – up to a point, at least. Video cameras, however, have just one f-stop to work with at any one time, and so must make compromises. Now, however, researchers from the UK’s University of Warwick claim to have the solution to such problems, in the form of the world’s first full High Dynamic Range (HDR) video system.

World’s first full HDR video system sees like the human eye.

See larger image Practical HDR: A complete guide to creating High Dynamic Range images with your Digital SLR (Paperback) By (author) David Nightingale, Steve Luck List Price: $24.95 USD New From: $16.55 In Stock Used from: $19.89 In Stock

The AVR Treasure Chest

My friend Kelly built this:

When my boys were very young, I made a treasure chest from a cheap toolbox, placed an electronic lock in it (AT90S1200) and sent them on a treasure hunt, solving clues and ultimately opening the chest to get their pirate booty, a pair of N64 games. Over the years that chest has been used on many such hunts, created by myself or the boys.
Fast forward over 10 years later and I felt it was time for a new chest, one that would run the treasure hunt itself, playing videos, sound effects, and even hand out paper clues. The typical scenario would start with the chest playing a video clue on the iTouch, which would send the treasure hunters off looking for more clues and eventually get a key. Returning to the chest they would insert the key which would signal the chest that they completed that scenario and it’s time to start the next one, which could be another video, or dispensing a paper clue or map. Once the last scenario was completed the chest would release the big spring loaded trunk latch and the treasure hunters could reap the reward of what ever was inside waiting for them.

This is a pretty amazing project and the documentation is top notch. Thanks for telling me about this Kelly! Once you have seen the chest writeup go have a look at his robots, the man is a master of ingenuity and creativity. I’m proud to say that my robots have had their tin cans kicked by his ‘bots a number of times.
Treasure Chest

HDR Video: The Next Overused Effect?

Shoot the same scene through a beam splitter on two Canon 5D MKII digital cameras. Under expose one camera by two stops, over expose the other by the same. Mix in post with some custom software that compresses the brights and shadows and you have what will probably become the next over used video effect, once the hardware gets sorted out… Read the rest of this entry »

Cylon Makeover for the Commodore 64

The venerable Commodore 64 is set to rise again in 2010, or the Commodore USA website would lead you to believe. Apparently it will support various OS, Windows, Ubuntu, Apple (unofficially only), Chrome, Aros, Comodo (whatever those last two are) packs a quad core Intel CPU, 4 GB memory, DVD drive… However, I call shenanigans on the whole thing. Aside from looking like a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica, the critter looks exactly like the Zero Footprint PC offered by Cybernetman. Yeah, I think this is the case of someone wanting to cash in on the classic Commodore name (but where is the ‘C64′ logo we all know and love, eh?). Still, an all in one keyboard/PC would be useful in a small office or a students desk.

Commodore USA Phoenix tech specs

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