Lytro’s first offering was meant to bedazzle hipsters. The hand-held point and shoot light-field camera let photographers refocus shots after taking them. It was (and is) very cool, but it wasn’t exactly up to professional standards. With a new camera called the Illum, a DSLR-style shooter with an 8X optical zoom and a high-speed, sports-worthy shutter, Lytro hopes to tap into the creative professional market.
Lytro more or less invented the market for light-field cameras in 2011. Prior to its first release, they had largely been limited to labs. Light-field cameras use a lens array to capture not just an image itself, but also the bundles of light rays, and the direction they are moving in a particular scene. Despite rave reviews, it hasn’t ever really taken off. It will be available in July for $1,500.
With the Illum, Lytro is targeting a more specialized market. In addition to the 8X (30 – 250mm) zoom lens, it has a constant f/2.0 aperture, 1/4000 shutter, and a four-inch backside touchscreen display. According to the company, the new sensor can capture 40 million light rays (Lytro doesn’t list megapixels) to the original’s 11 million. Its desktop processing software works with traditional products, like Adobe’s Photoshop and Lightroom. Photographers can use the camera’s software to refocus pictures after the fact, generate 3-D images, adjust the depth of field, and create tilt shifts.
Beyond its lens and bigger sensor, there are other ways the Illum surpasses Lytro’s original model. For example, because it’s such a different concept than most photographers are accustomed to, the camera has built-in software that color codes the display with depth information. It effectively previews the depth range you’ll have to work with once you shoot a photo.
This, Lytro says, is to help photographers start to think in three dimensions. Afterwards, photographers can export the images to traditional formats, or thanks to WebGL, publish them online in ways that let people interact with them and manipulate them later.
There are also just a ton of little features on this camera that are really solid. Lytro says the angled touchscreen is designed for photography where you’re less likely to be holding a camera directly up in front of your face. The lens itself is super light–as is the entire camera–but it feels rugged and solid with great knurling and smooth focus and zoom adjustments; on par with high-end DSLRs.
Other aspects of the camera are simply mind-boggling. Although we’re getting used to the ability to refocus and adjust depth of field after the fact–the new HTC One does a good job of it, for example–nothing else has this camera’s incredible range for doing so. Likewise, shooting something with a single-lens camera, and then seeing it on screen in rich 3-D is pretty amazing. Perhaps the most amazing out-of-the-box feature, however, is its ability to take insane macro shots. Objects held nearly flush with the lens appeared perfectly in focus–and yet still let you refocus on other objects across the room.
Right now, Lytro is appealing to people trying to stand out in a world of flat, static photos. But clearly, the company is moving toward a future wherein light-field photography, video, 3-D, and virtual reality will all be converging. The Illum is certainly pointing the way there.
Source: www.wired.com
Lytro more or less invented the market for light-field cameras in 2011. Prior to its first release, they had largely been limited to labs. Light-field cameras use a lens array to capture not just an image itself, but also the bundles of light rays, and the direction they are moving in a particular scene. Despite rave reviews, it hasn’t ever really taken off. It will be available in July for $1,500.
With the Illum, Lytro is targeting a more specialized market. In addition to the 8X (30 – 250mm) zoom lens, it has a constant f/2.0 aperture, 1/4000 shutter, and a four-inch backside touchscreen display. According to the company, the new sensor can capture 40 million light rays (Lytro doesn’t list megapixels) to the original’s 11 million. Its desktop processing software works with traditional products, like Adobe’s Photoshop and Lightroom. Photographers can use the camera’s software to refocus pictures after the fact, generate 3-D images, adjust the depth of field, and create tilt shifts.
Beyond its lens and bigger sensor, there are other ways the Illum surpasses Lytro’s original model. For example, because it’s such a different concept than most photographers are accustomed to, the camera has built-in software that color codes the display with depth information. It effectively previews the depth range you’ll have to work with once you shoot a photo.
This, Lytro says, is to help photographers start to think in three dimensions. Afterwards, photographers can export the images to traditional formats, or thanks to WebGL, publish them online in ways that let people interact with them and manipulate them later.
There are also just a ton of little features on this camera that are really solid. Lytro says the angled touchscreen is designed for photography where you’re less likely to be holding a camera directly up in front of your face. The lens itself is super light–as is the entire camera–but it feels rugged and solid with great knurling and smooth focus and zoom adjustments; on par with high-end DSLRs.
Other aspects of the camera are simply mind-boggling. Although we’re getting used to the ability to refocus and adjust depth of field after the fact–the new HTC One does a good job of it, for example–nothing else has this camera’s incredible range for doing so. Likewise, shooting something with a single-lens camera, and then seeing it on screen in rich 3-D is pretty amazing. Perhaps the most amazing out-of-the-box feature, however, is its ability to take insane macro shots. Objects held nearly flush with the lens appeared perfectly in focus–and yet still let you refocus on other objects across the room.
Right now, Lytro is appealing to people trying to stand out in a world of flat, static photos. But clearly, the company is moving toward a future wherein light-field photography, video, 3-D, and virtual reality will all be converging. The Illum is certainly pointing the way there.
Source: www.wired.com
The world’s biggest technology manufacturer said that Youm, the brand it has used for its flexible display technology since June, was a prototype that was not going to launch imminently. Samsung's continued emphasis on the technology will worry its rivals, however, and indicates that the Korean company is continuing both to work on new display technologies and to reduce its reliance on Google Android. It pointedly demonstrated the phone running Windows Phone 8.
The true impact of flexible displays, however, is likely to be hampered by the size and rigidity of vital processing and memory technology. The demonstration unit featured a flexible display attached to a small processing box.
Analysts say the first uses for flexible displays are most likely to be in devices that are more durable than glass because they can absorb force rather than crack under it. The new technology is also likely to be used, Samsung said, to wrap displays around devices and allow them, for instance, to show information on their edges.
Eric Rutter, Microsoft’s Chief Technology Strategy Officer, said that it was clear that displays did not need to be rigid. On stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the prototype phone was shown being flexed and bent without any conspicuous colour distortion, with other pre-recorded demonstrations shown on film. Referring to people who have talked about Apple's marketing creating a "reality distortion field," he claimed "we've actually built one".
Corning, the maker of Gorilla Glass, which is widely used across mobile phones, is also working on a flexible glass product called Willow. It is likely to be available in time for use on devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the forthcoming iPhone, but will not offer the flexibility of plastic. Subsequent mobile phone releases, therefore, may not use as much glass and may instead move to flexible displays.
Samsung has been working on flexible displays for a number of years, but its latest demonstration was the first to prove it has already talked to other companies about how it might implement flexible displays. Previous rumours have, however, suggested that it has also spoken to Google about a version of Android for such devices.
Samsung’s keynote also featured former American President Bill Clinton. He reiterated his observations on the transformative power of technology for the developing world, and also said he had seen how much medical technology had moved on during his wife Hillary Clinton’s recent hospital stay. He also added his voice to calls for stricter gun control in America.
Source: Telegraph
Google is working on smart contact lenses, and two patents secured last week suggest the company is taking the idea seriously. The company is working on contacts with embedded cameras, as well as lenses aimed at diabetics who need to constantly monitor their blood sugar levels.
In the latter application, an embedded “ophthalmic electrochemical sensor” would test the wearer’s tear fluid and alert him or her to any drops in blood sugar levels. The lens would include a working electrode and a much larger reference electrode. An antenna would also be included—all on the convex and concave surfaces of the contact lens.
“We’re testing prototypes that can generate a reading once per second,” Google’s Brian Otis and Babak Parviz wrote, when announcing the project. “We’re also investigating the potential for this to serve as an early warning for the wearer, so we’re exploring integrating tiny L.E.D. lights that could light up to indicate that glucose levels have crossed above or below certain thresholds. It’s still early days for this technology, but we’ve completed multiple clinical research studies which are helping to refine our prototype. We hope this could someday lead to a new way for people with diabetes to manage their disease.”
The company is in discussions with the F.D.A., which would obviously need to approve the lenses before they can more to market.
Google’s foray into medical devices offers an interesting backdrop against which we can examine the tech giant’s controversial Google Glass product line. Earlier this week, The Atlantic published another look at Glass, wherein blind writer Will Butler posited that “our fear of assistive technology” is to blame for the frosty reception Glass has received. (A number of Glass wearers have been mugged, and the product has not been polling well with consumers.)
“There remains a disheartening chasm between what we think of as assistive tech versus good design. Glass is struggling because it hovers between the two,” Butler wrote, arguing that Glass wearers are seen as weak.
Even Google’s vision of contact lenses with cameras have some assistive applications: the patent filing for that product notes that the lenses could be used to alert blind wearers to approaching cars, for example, by taking an image and transferring the information into sound. It’s hard to imagine the public taking issue with such medical uses (thankfully, no one is protesting outside of the Boston area hospital where Google Glass helped a physician save a man’s life), but in a world where anyone wearing Google Glass is liable to be called a “Glasshole,” it’s not at all difficult to imagine the uproar over proposed features like built-in zoom capability for those who don’t have issues seeing.
Source: www.vanityfair.com
Making a multiplayer-focused game is always a big challenge for indie developers starting out, particularly for their first game.
That’s not to say it hasn’t been done of course, the leading example being Facepunch’s hit Steam Early Access game Rust. But the road is paved with many that have fallen before it.
New UK developer Freejam has taken on the challenge however, and what’s more, they’ve gone free-to-play. The game is called Robocraft, currently in a playable alpha, which its creators describes as the illegitimate child of Minecraft and World of Tanks.
The team consists of ex-Climax veterans and includes Mark Simmons, Sebastiano Mandalà, Edward Fowler, Brian O’Connor and Richard Turner. Game director Simmons tells Develop despite working on IP for the likes of Square Enix, Microsoft, Sony and Konami, the developers wanted to work on their own creation, a story increasingly familiar in the game industry.
“Working on major well known IP’s is one thing, but when they aren’t ‘your’ IP’s then you don’t get the full feeling of satisfaction when the user enjoys your game. That’s what we wanted,” he says.
Their debut title, Robocraft, is designed as a team-based eSport game that allows users to build their own tanks by piecing together blocks and verious tank parts.
"I know what you’re thinking 'oh no, not another minecraft clone', but we’re different,” says Simmons.
“We set about creating a credible team based eSport about the idea of building high fidelity battle machines from cubes. The cubes form the chassis, and then the user adds components such as wheels, jet thrusters, hoverblades, laser cannons, etcetera."
When I ask why the focus on user generated content for such a title, Simons says: “It really started out as the answer to a question: How can our little team of five developers deliver an epic team based MMO eSport without being able to produce tons of content?”
The free-to-play venture has worked out well for the team so far, attracting 300,000 users during the last three months, with 20,000 users playing each day and 2,500 joining on average every day.
Simmons says the developer was able to achieve this in part thanks to well known YouTubers in countries such as Poland sparking increased interest in the title, once again highlighting the importance of user videos and allowing players to create their own Let’s Play content – and letting them make money from your IP.
But being an indie, how do you attract enough players for a multiplayer game to ensure users will always find someone to play against while also keeping them engaged for the long-term? Simmons argues that’s why the team went free-to-play, but admits the problem was still tricky to tackle early on.
"If you’re free then you’re likely to attract more users, even if they aren’t paying.,” he explains.
It has come with it’s own issues though. Servers cost money, and if your users aren’t paying, then getting more users actually costs you more money. Luckily our user payments are covering the cost of the servers now so we haven’t got this worry anymore.
Of another solution to the issue of ensuring there are enough players, Simmons adds: “When we initially released getting enough users was a major problem. To fix it we had to release a ‘countdown timer’. The counter counted down from three minutes and every time the counter got to zero we launched a battle.
“This way, although there were not many users online they all went into battle at the same time, which ensured we had enough users to fight each other. We switched over to a ‘battle-whenever-you-want’ system when the user numbers were high enough."
Much like Wargaming claims World of Tanks is free-to-play and not “pay-to-win”, FreeJam also claims their title is playable “without spending a penny”. He admits that players can accelerate through the game by purchasing a premium membership, and users can also purchase cubs and components, but the latter is only available to those that have earned points through gameplay.
“Users can purchase cubes and components directly but only when they have unlocked the license for that component using Tech Points - which you have to play to earn,” he explains.
“There is no way to just put $100 down and get a fantastic Robot right away, even paying users must fight to progress. Users can also purchase a few items which are real money only, but they are cosmetic only, there are no pay for only items that can get you a competitive advantage. We’re really trying to play the F2P thing in an ‘indie way’, i.e. fair and not aggressively.”
Robocraft is currently in alpha phase, and the developers plan to take the title onto Steam Early Access having successfully gone through Steam Greenlight in just five days.
Source: www.develop-online.net
Google is working on smart contact lenses, and two patents secured last week suggest the company is taking the idea seriously. The company is working on contacts with embedded cameras, as well as lenses aimed at diabetics who need to constantly monitor their blood sugar levels.
In the latter application, an embedded “ophthalmic electrochemical sensor” would test the wearer’s tear fluid and alert him or her to any drops in blood sugar levels. The lens would include a working electrode and a much larger reference electrode. An antenna would also be included—all on the convex and concave surfaces of the contact lens.
“We’re testing prototypes that can generate a reading once per second,” Google’s Brian Otis and Babak Parviz wrote, when announcing the project. “We’re also investigating the potential for this to serve as an early warning for the wearer, so we’re exploring integrating tiny L.E.D. lights that could light up to indicate that glucose levels have crossed above or below certain thresholds. It’s still early days for this technology, but we’ve completed multiple clinical research studies that helps to refine our prototype. We hope this could someday lead to a new way for people with diabetes to manage their disease.”
The company is in discussions with the F.D.A., which would obviously need to approve the lenses before they can more to market.
Google’s foray into medical devices offers an interesting backdrop against which we can examine the tech giant’s controversial Google Glass product line. Earlier this week, The Atlantic published another look at Glass, wherein blind writer Will Butler posited that “our fear of assistive technology” is to blame for the frosty reception Glass has received. (A number of Glass wearers have been mugged, and the product has not been polling well with consumers.)
“There remains a disheartening chasm between what we think of as assistive tech versus good design. Glass is struggling because it hovers between the two,” Butler wrote, arguing that Glass wearers are seen as weak.
Even Google’s vision of contact lenses with cameras have some assistive applications: the patent filing for that product notes that the lenses could be used to alert blind wearers to approaching cars, for example, by taking an image and transferring the information into sound. It’s hard to imagine the public taking issue with such medical uses (thankfully, no one is protesting outside of the Boston area hospital where Google Glass helped a physician save a man’s life), but in a world where anyone wearing Google Glass is liable to be called a “Glasshole,” it’s not at all difficult to imagine the uproar over proposed features like built-in zoom capability for those who don’t have issues seeing.
This is little different from all those other electric shoes that were making the rounds recently. Piezoelectrics are interesting, but simply don’t produce a lot of power for their size. Enough to make a low-power transmitter squirt a few bytes, or light an LED. They’re great for collecting ambient forces like sound and vibration, if you know the direction and type of force you want to harvest, there are better ways to go about it.
In the case of harvesting energy from footsteps, you have a pretty good idea of how the forces will work. And some researchers from the University of Wisconsin Madison are working on a system that might be able to pull as much as 20W from your strut. Why are you strutting, anyway? You think you’re so cool.
Yes, theoretically, you could charge your iPad or power a whole low-power computer of some kind just by walking around. Of course, you could never stop walking, which might end up being a good thing. The researchers, who have privatized to research and sell the technology under the name Instep Nanopower, say that somewhere around 300W of power dissipates as heat alone, and they think they can siphon off a bit without messing with your gait.
What they’ve done is introduce a fluid made up of tiny metal microdroplets into a special substrate. When your foot presses down on it, the droplets are forced through the substrate, which generates electricity by a means known as reverse electrowetting (that’s probably patent pending).
Once the energy has been grabbed, it can be held for drawing off later or used immediately to power a device. They suggest a sort of relay that would do a mobile phone’s high-power transmitting for it, while using a lower-power signal to send stuff to the phone, saving battery life. Kind of an over-specific application, but you get the idea. They address several potential issues in the FAQ (squishiness, leaks, cost, etc) but don’t mention weight. I’m concerned that the battery and liquid metal would increase the weight of the sure significantly. I like light shoes myself, and I’m not sure I’d want to add another four or five ounces to each foot for a questionably accessible power source.
Via: Techcrunch
In the case of harvesting energy from footsteps, you have a pretty good idea of how the forces will work. And some researchers from the University of Wisconsin Madison are working on a system that might be able to pull as much as 20W from your strut. Why are you strutting, anyway? You think you’re so cool.
Yes, theoretically, you could charge your iPad or power a whole low-power computer of some kind just by walking around. Of course, you could never stop walking, which might end up being a good thing. The researchers, who have privatized to research and sell the technology under the name Instep Nanopower, say that somewhere around 300W of power dissipates as heat alone, and they think they can siphon off a bit without messing with your gait.
What they’ve done is introduce a fluid made up of tiny metal microdroplets into a special substrate. When your foot presses down on it, the droplets are forced through the substrate, which generates electricity by a means known as reverse electrowetting (that’s probably patent pending).
Once the energy has been grabbed, it can be held for drawing off later or used immediately to power a device. They suggest a sort of relay that would do a mobile phone’s high-power transmitting for it, while using a lower-power signal to send stuff to the phone, saving battery life. Kind of an over-specific application, but you get the idea. They address several potential issues in the FAQ (squishiness, leaks, cost, etc) but don’t mention weight. I’m concerned that the battery and liquid metal would increase the weight of the sure significantly. I like light shoes myself, and I’m not sure I’d want to add another four or five ounces to each foot for a questionably accessible power source.
Via: Techcrunch
