Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
Facebook kills 100 startups with new collaborative photo album feature
tell us it was different because it was private, or centered around
events or locations, or automatically identified friends' faces.
Again and again, we warned y'all that Facebook, owner of all photos of
people on the Internet and the most popular mobile photo app, was
going to crush you eventually.
http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/26/facebook-kills-100-startups-with-new-collaborative-photo-album-feature/#x7tXqoAT4OVAXieh.99
Chromecast Update Blocks Local Media Streaming App
ability to stream local files rather than just Netflix, YouTube, and a
few other sources. As a result, developers have been playing around
with Google's Chrome Cast technology, which powers the Chromecast. But
one tinkerer found himself locked out after a recent update.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2423619,00.asp
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Saturday, August 24, 2013
New Device Cuts Time to ID Bacterial Infections - Yahoo! News
bacteria and yeast known to cause disease in people. The new device is
called VITEK MS. The device uses a technology called matrix-assisted
laser desorption/ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry
(MALDI-TOF MS).
http://news.yahoo.com/device-cuts-time-id-bacterial-infections-171904175.html
Eisenhower WRC-TV 1958 (oldest known colour videotaping)
This is sample footage of the earliest surviving color videotape recording which is the Dwight Eisenhower inaugural address to WRC-TV on 22nd May 1958. The first 15 minutes of this event was shot in B&W which you see the president arriving to the building and the news reporter giving details of the event, then about nearly 15 minutes in Robert Sarnoff hits the color switch and on comes the color. For the remaining 15 minutes Robert Sarnoff, Dwight Eisenhower and David Sarnoff speak about the station and the colour television technology while being recorded in living color!!!
In the sample included is the B&W portion where the president arrives and the color portion which Robert Sarnoff and Dwight Eisenhower speak.
USA started broadcasting color in late 1953 and color TV sets were available to the public in 1954 at an expensive price. Color videotaping began in USA in 1958 and this footage is the earliest known to exist and it has been successfully transferred to digital for preservation. It is totally awesome to know that some colour programs from the late 1950s have survived on color videotape as they show to us younger generations how good color television really was back in its earliest days!!! Those RCA TK-41 cameras gave brilliant pictures back in the day!!!
Instagram snaps up camera app to upgrade video - CNET Mobile
With the addition of Luma's team and video stabilization tech, the
Facebook-owned app hopes to help members capture higher-quality
footage.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
IPTV Providers To Pay Same Regulatory Fees As Cable Companies
IPTV Providers To Pay Same Regulatory Fees As Cable Companies
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Twitter buys code training company Marakana to boost engineering chops | PCWorld
What may not be clear to non-San Francisco residents is the large presence Marakana (tough name) has in training engineers. See their website to get a feel for the job they do.
tc
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Saturday, August 10, 2013
Apple patents tech to let cops switch off iPhone video, camera and wi-fi
Apple patents tech to let cops switch off iPhone video, camera and wi-fi
So they can pummel with impunity
Police forces around the world have had the problem that when their officers get a bit carried away and start pepper spraying tied captives there is someone on hand filming the event on their mobile phones.
While six police lay into prone grannies on the floor with long batons, the pictures can be on the net in seconds, meaning supervisors have to answer embarrassing questions.
But they may not need to fear scrutiny much longer - Apple has patented a piece of technology which would allow government and police to block transmission of information, including video and photographs, whenever they like.
All the coppers have to do is decide that a public gathering or venue is deemed "sensitive", and needs to be "protected from externalities" and Apple will switch off all its gear.
The police can then get on with the very difficult task of kettling protesters without having to worry about a few beating anyone to death.
Apple insists that the affected sites are mostly cinemas, theatres, concert grounds and similar locations, but it does admit that it could be used in "covert police or government operations which may require complete 'blackout' conditions".
According to RT it could also be used to prevent whistleblowers like Edward Snowden from taking pictures and broadcasting them on the interent.
Apple said that the wireless transmission of sensitive information to a remote source is one example of a threat to security.
But it said that this sensitive information could be anything from classified government information to questions or answers to an examination administered in an academic setting.
Apple patented the means to transmit an encoded signal to all wireless devices, commanding them to disable recording functions.
The policies would be activated by GPS, and wi-fi or mobile base-stations, which would ring-fence ("geofence") around a building or a "sensitive area" to prevent phone cameras from taking pictures or recording video.
Odd that the company made famous by its 1984 Big Brother video can't really see what it is doing. Perhaps its own secretive culture and an overzealous security treatment of its staff have fostered sympathy for Big Brother after all.
Acquisition, Compression and Rendering of Depth and Texture for Multi-View Video
Acquisition, Compression and Rendering of Depth and Texture for Multi-View Video
Summary
Samenvatting
Chapter1 Introduction
1.1 Fundamentals of stereo visualization
1.2 Applications of multi-view imaging
1.3 Three-dimensional video systems layout
1.4 Multi-view acquisition, compression and rendering problems addressed in this thesis
1.5 Thesis outline: the multi-view video system
1.6 Contributions of this thesis
Chapter2 Projective Geometry
2.1 Projective geometry
2.2 Pinhole camera model
2.3 Camera calibration
2.4 Two-view geometry
2.5 Summary and conclusions
Chapter3 Multi-View Depth Estimation
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Two-view depth estimation
3.3 Previous work on depth estimation
3.4 Multiple-view depth estimation
3.5 Summary and conclusions
Chapter4 Multi-View Depth Image Based Rendering
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Depth Image Based Rendering
4.3 Occlusion-compatible scanning order
4.4 Occlusion handling
4.5 Experimental results on rendering quality and evaluation
4.6 Conclusions
Chapter5 H.264-Based Depth and Texture Multi-View Coding
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Multi-view video coding tools
5.3 View Synthesis Prediction (VSP) for N-depth/N-texture coding
5.4 Experimental results
5.5 Conclusions
Chapter6 Depth image coding using piecewise-linear functions
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Geometric modeling of depth images
6.3 Bit-allocation strategy
6.4 Experimental results
6.5 Conclusions and perspectives
Chapter7 Joint Depth-Texture Bit Allocation
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Joint depth/texture bit allocation
7.3 Hierarchical search optimization
7.4 Relationship between the depth and texture bit rate
7.5 Applications of the joint bit-allocation framework
7.6 Experimental results
7.7 Conclusions
Chapter8 Conclusions and Prospects
8.1 Results and discussion on the individual chapters
8.2 Key issues and open questions
8.3 Perspectives
Chapter9 Appendix
9.1 Appendix. Occlusion-compatible scanning-order
9.2 Appendix. Test sequences and images
Bibliography
Friday, August 09, 2013
Fwd: Time Warner vs CBS Dispute: Try Off-Air Antenna!
From: "My Cable Mart" <NoReply@mycablemart.com>
Date: Aug 9, 2013 1:14 PM
Subject: Time Warner vs CBS Dispute: Try Off-Air Antenna!
To: <john.sokol@gmail.com>
We respect your privacy. If you no longer wish to receive any promotional emails from MyCableMart.com, please click HERE
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Thursday, August 08, 2013
Internet TV Broadcaster Aereo Continues Growth Despite Angering Networks
Wednesday, August 07, 2013
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
Fwd: Since we last spoke...
From: "Jordan Casey" <Jordan@bluejeans.com>
Date: Aug 6, 2013 6:06 AM
Subject: Since we last spoke...
To: <john.sokol@gmail.com>
Hi John —
You've probably been hearing the news about Blue Jeans Network's cloud-based video conferencing and collaboration solution. With nearly 2,000 customers worldwide and a 25% share of the video conferencing services market, it's no wonder we've been getting so much buzz! And we're certainly flattered...
Since you've expressed interest in our service in the past, I thought I'd reach out and update you on what's new and exciting with us:
- We've enabled even more connection options, adding a Blue Jeans iOS app, numerous web browsers, and the Cisco Jabber client to our already-robust portfolio.
- Our user interface has been reimagined, making it even easier for you to schedule and host meetings.
- Our service now supports rich content sharing, enabling you to collaborate on documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and even videos—in real-time.
- We integrate with Microsoft Lync, (Bi-directional content sharing & video) giving users of the popular desktop service an easy option for holding productive external meetings
We'd love for you to experience all of these great features for yourself. Reply back to me if you are interested and I can set it up.
Best regards,
Jordan
Jordan Casey | Blue Jeans Representative
jordan@bluejeans.com | 408-550-2828
Blue Jeans Network
[701E0000000DXWT]
Blue Jeans Network | 516 Clyde Ave | Mountain View, CA 94043 | www.bluejeans.com | Contact Us |
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Teller-By-TV Replaces Real Thing At D.C. Banks
REMOTE TELLER™ SYSTEM
Features
- Bridge the gap between full- and self-service by bringing the drive-up experience into the branch
- Allow a teller to view up to 16 customer or member locations and to control video advertising capabilities
- Maintain live tellers for the lobby and drive-up areas
- Increase sales through an increasing range and mix of products
- Limit "head count" while maintaining service and increasing sales
- Provide higher levels of security for both consumers and employees
Overview
Diebold's RemoteTeller™ System is a high-throughput, low-cost, non-card-based approach to in-branch banking that uses pneumatics and two-way closed-circuit television (CCTV) to allow tellers to be located in secure, economical, remote locations, while still delivering consumer-friendly security service.
More Information
Optimized for teller efficiency, the RemoteTeller System allows one to four tellers to serve up to eight consumers. The Customer Delivery Unit features VAT technology, a 14-inch color monitor and color camera. Tellers' Vision Direct Operator Units feature a flat-screen display with mounted camera and an Audio Control Module (ACM). Optional components are available for consumer and teller units.
RemoteTeller System Custom Stations
Provide inviting access to RemoteTeller services via a compact, self-contained unit that can be placed in the space that two traditional teller windows would occupy, effectively increasing transaction capacity. Easy to install and designed for easy serviceability and feature flexible mounting heights to facilitate ADA compliance. Diebold 816 Audio™ System audio ports, camera and 14" monitor mounts, and pneumatic system inputs make the facilitation of clear communication between the consumer and teller simple.
Monday, August 05, 2013
Hendy’s Law (pixels per dollar)
Saturday, August 03, 2013
Thursday, August 01, 2013
Are we at the limit of resolution improvements that people can notice?
July 31, 2013, 5:59 PM —
I saw two things over the past two weeks that made me question whether we humans had reached some kind of landmark. They were not, thankfully, YouTube comments.
One was the Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding campaign. I wrote about how the cutting-edge smartphone was so powerful, and so custom-built for certain purposes, that it resembled the kind of bespoke suits one buys on Savile Row. The only thing restrained or modest about the Edge is this take on the screen:
We also believe the race for ever higher resolution has become a distraction. Beyond 300ppi you're adding overhead rather than improving display clarity. We think colour, brightness and dynamic range are now the edge of invention so we'll choose a display for its balance of resolution, dynamic range and colour accuracy.
The other thing was a note from Kevin Tofel, writer at GigaOM, pondering the leaked specifications for the upcoming Moto X phone. Some might say they're not quite cutting-edge, but Tofel begs to differ, at least on the screen and screen-driving power bits:
I'm basing that thought on the little bit of time I spent with the Droid Ultra lineup. These phones too had 720p displays, but you could have fooled me: They looked super crisp to my eyes which thought they were seeing a 1080p screen.
Are Motorola and Ubuntu onto something? Are we floating around the limit of screen improvements that people can actually notice?
In introducing Apple's trademarked "Retina" displays, Steve Jobs made the notable claim that the human eye is unable to notice (that is, differentiate) pixels on the display at a typical viewing distance (hence the name). Because of the different viewing distances and screen sizes, that works out to:
326 ppi for the smallest devices (iPhone and iPod Touch), 264 ppi for mid-sized devices (iPad) and 220 ppi for larger devices (MacBook Pro).
Phil Plait, who writes the Bad Astronomy blog for Discover Magazine (and who helped calibrate the Hubble space telescope camera), writes that those numbers, and Jobs' claim, are basically right. Resolution, you see, is a matter of how close things appear together. The better your eyesight, the more you are able to distinguish between two things—pixels, trees in the distance, surfaces on the moon. At the 12-inch mark Jobs staked out, then, Plait believes that Jobs was right—for people with normal or averagevision:
Let me make this clear: if you have perfect eyesight, then at one foot away the iPhone 4′s pixels are resolved. The picture will look pixellated. If you have average eyesight, the picture will look just fine.
Pablo Artal is a professor of Optics at the University of Murcia in south-est Spain. People have, of course, asked him about the "Retina" and our retinas. To summate his response: nobody is ever viewing a Retina display with truly perfect vision, in perfectly lit laboratory conditions, so it is quite good enough:
Under normal viewing conditions only a few subjects would be able to see the pixel details. On the contrary, under normal viewing conditions a majority of subjects can see the pixels in the old iPad2. So, the difference is really evident. For this type of tablet device the resolution in the new Ipad is an excellent compromise and it is well matched to most eyes. The Apple's vision researcher consultant did a good job in this case!
Where is the other side in this debate? Mostly, it is people who assume Apple lies about everything, even provable things, and it is Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies, quoted in Wired. Soneira said, as Chen paraphrases:
... The eye actually has an angular resolution of 50 cycles per degree. Therefore, if we were to compare the resolution limit of the eye with pixels on a screen, we must convert angular resolution to linear resolution. After conversions are made, a more accurate "retina display" would have a pixel resolution of 477 pixels per inch at 12 inches, Soneira calculated.
Soneira is mostly taking on the idea that "Retina" is a screen that is just like your actual retina. And that assumption that there is room for resolution improvement does assume, as noted previously, that your eyeballs are working just absolutely perfectly, and that there is no signal decay between the thing you're looking at and your brain's visual processing gear. And, again, that you are viewing something in perfect lighting conditions.
And just for piling on, you can count William H.A. Beaudot, PhD, vision scientist at KyberVision, as among those with a view that Retina-ish displays are basically what your eye can see:
Under this normal range of viewing conditions, Apple "Retina Display" would have the capacity to span the full range of normal visual acuity, from 20/20 at 10" to 20/12 at 18", further justifying Apple's claims.
I'm finishing up this post on a Chromebook Pixel, which has, according to Google, the highest pixel density of any laptop: 239 pixels per inch across 12.85 inches. I can tell, just from looking at text, that it is far more crisp and less obviously computer-generated than text on a MacBook Air, or my Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone. But I cannot say it is noticeably better than the text on a nearby 13-inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display, with 227 pixels per inch.
There are always reasons to make things more bright, colorful, and to test the limits of human perception (like, whoa, man). But in this case, I think Ubuntu and Motorola might be right: it's something of a mechanic's game over a certain resolution, maybe around 300 pixels per inch. There are definitely more interesting and important visual aspects with which one might monkey around.
