Apple ‘iPanel’ rumored to push the boundaries of TV, release in 2012
A new television released by Apple is rumored to be called the iPanel, because iTV or anything of that sort is too limiting. Apparently this is going to be big.
Last week financial analyst Peter Misek of Jefferies & Co. upped his price target for Apple stock on the sole fact that Apple will release a TV set this year. He expects it to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2012. ...
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Video Games are about Entertainment, not Technology
... Video games are an entertainment technology, but the emphasis has always been on entertainment. It seems that games often fail when they get the two mixed up. To boldly claim your game is a leap in technology, you instantly stack that game up against technology and computer companies, and if it doesn’t capture the public’s imagination in quite the same way as Apple has managed to do, then the game or product will fail in the eyes of the mainstream media, analysts and whoever else is paid to sway public opinion. ...
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3D Tries Again to Gain a Foothold
...Google’s Glasses project, though, has brought the spotlight back to this and related technologies.
3D Video
Leading the way are videos–a key channel for marketers and an area where they plan to increase social media efforts, according to Social Media Examiner. YouTube just announced it will convert all short-form videos uploaded in 1080p to 3D. It is an expansion of a beta feature launched last year.
Gaming As Well
More gaming platforms are testing the technology as well. Last month ProGaming Platforms reported that it is finalizing development of a social 3D flash game, and will integrate it with its multiplayer online gaming and reward-processing platform. ...
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Eton to utilize 3D to improve learning
MANILA, Philippines - This June, parents and students alike can look forward to a more exciting and quality learning as the first 3D school in the country was launched recently.
Instead of using regular textbooks, Eton International School, branded as the school of the future, will now let its students learn their subjects — from cellular biotechnology to global geography to ancient history and even intergalactic astrophysics — through 3D viewing.
Using 3D goggles, students from pre-school to high school are guaranteed to achieve an immersive learning experience by simply watching colorful 3D animated movies and 3D interactive supported by games and puzzles.
...
Joie Perilla, e-learning head of the Product Presentation Group of Microdata Systems and Management Inc., a partner of Eton in the 3Dclassroom endeavor, said the use of 3D technology increases educational effectiveness and helps in visualizing complex topics.
The newly acquired 3D technology software delivers the world’s best 3D animated content for K12 science and mathematics education, with an average of 400 animations per subject.
It covers educational resources such as videos, simulations, interactive quizzes, images, Web links, innovative virtual laboratories, and high-definition stereoscopic movies. ...
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Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir Preview
Do you remember that bit in the remake of The House on Haunted Hill when whatsit is wandering through the basement of the derelict mental asylum, and she comes upon a forgotten operating theatre? She has her camcorder with her - we all had them, back then - and through its viewing screen, the empty, dusty room is suddenly filled with sexy nurses and wonky old doctors. She lowers the screen and the room's empty. She raises it back up and the room's full. Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir is that scene, basically, with your 3DS standing in for the camcorder. ...
The core of the package comes with story mode, which tells the strange tale of a spooky old notebook and an evil crone who likes to steal people's faces. The narrative is refreshingly nasty, as it happens, and it unfolds as you page through a short AR pamphlet that accompanies the game, following on-screen instructions that tell you where to point your 3DS camera as you go. ...
Beyond that, though, there are a range of AR extras that promise to keep you busy if you've lost the little cards the 3DS originally came with, or if you've just become bored of having Link and Samus Aran strike heroic poses next to a cheese sandwich.
The simplest of these add-ons is actually the most fun, I think: a basic camera mode that inserts all manner of spooks and horrors into pictures that you've taken with the 3DS. There are a variety of different twists on offer, as you mess around with 3D pictures or even opt for a lens that alters the faces of your friends and loved ones, covering people with acne or bending their noses into witches' crones. Elsewhere, there are asides in which you take snapshots of people and then read about the ghosts that are presently haunting them, or even use friends' facial geometry to provide the statistics for enemies in a simple combat game. It's more spinning and snapping, by the looks of it, so it's probably a good idea to keep that office chair handy. ...
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STEREOSCOPIC 3-D CINEMA BY CESAR RUBIO (free book download)
[Philip Lelyveld comment: this is a diary, not a text book.]
"Stereoscopic 3-D Cinema" is an online book by Cesar Rubio. The book has been released on December 6, 2011 and is now available for free download on StereoscopyNews. A second updated version was issued in April 2012.
The book is 171 pages long. The author, Cesar Rubio is a professionnal photographer and videographer who loves 3D stereoscopy as well. In the book, you will find a lot of information about 2K and 4K 3D cinema, use of machine vision cameras for 3D, 2K cinema workflow and far more....
The book is free and here is an excerpt from the final pages of the book: "You can distribute this book or info in this e-book (including images) anywhere you want, even if you write a book about 3-D cinematography and want to include some of the info in your book. Even if that book is not free, like this one. Just please acknowledge the source of the info. You can also translate this book to your own language, and please consider distributing it for free as well if you can...I would translate it to Spanish, but since I don't have a way to check and correct my bad orthography...and I am running out of time here...I will leave it to some one else to do that."
Download the "Stereoscopic 3-D Cinema" book (updated version 2) from this web site (.pdf format, 171 pages. Be patient, as file size is 67.3 Mbytes! ). An alternative source of the document is available at 3DCenterUSA.
Cesar Rubio is no more present on the web but his previous web site is still available on the WayBack Machine Internet Archive. He can be reached through his Cesar Rubio Facebook page.
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YouTube kicks off huge 3D overhaul
The company has been working on a conversion process that could take the highest-quality videos already posted on YouTube and make them available automatically in 3D, with uploaders not needing to do a single thing.
YouTube announced the update today, which offers the ability for users to switch from "HD" to "3D" when they're watching a video that was uploaded in 1080p.
In a blog post, the company said it used color, spatial layout, and motion to estimate depth, created a generated depth map to overlay the two halves of a 3D image together, and also relied on "machine learning" to better automate and learn patterns in the creation of 3D imagery and video. ...
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Google testing heads-up display glasses in public
[Philip Lelyveld comment: this looks like the near-screen technology that I saw the Vusix people demo to Sergy Brin at CES.]
The good news: Google has started testing those augmented reality glasses we heard about earlier in the year. The bad news: if the artsy shots of the test units are to be believed, they won't make you look like some '80s cinematic anti-hero. In fact, the things wouldn't look too out of place in a New York Times style story. The software giant let it be known that, while it hasn't quite got a sale date on the wearables, it's ready to test ProjectGlass amongst the non-augmented public. The company is also looking for feedback on the project, writing in a post today, "we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input." Want some idea of what ProjectGlass might offer the public? Sure, it's not quite as good as strapping a pair on your own eyes, but interested parties can check out a video of Google's vision after the break.
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Jim Chabin believes 2012 will be a good year for 3D
...Chabin acknowledged the downturn in 3D film box office sales in 2011 ...
Perhaps most interesting was Chabin’s news that China will be splitting its 10 upcoming 3D channels into themes such as arts, entertainment and drama, but the surprise announcement was that a3D news channel will be part of the line-up. The Chinese government has committed to launching the ten 3D channels over the next 5 years under the CCTV brand who launched their first 3D channel in January.
Chamblin said that 3D was still very popular amongst the public with the term “3D" being searched on Google 88 million times a month. ...
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