I Art You

The New York Times ran an article From Snapshots, a 3-D View that looked at Microsofts latest photo software called Photosynth. The Photosynth software is available now as a free download from Microsofts live labs program. Bascially what the Photosynth software does is stitch together severl dozen or several thousands photos of something and creates a 3D model that you can zoom in and out of and rotate 360′. There are many great applications for the software and it provides a much more interactive feel to photos. 

The more photos you take of your target (from all angles, and all zooms) the more detailed the Photosynth image will be. Some of the photosynth photos are so detailed you feel like your viewing a proffesional 3D mock up. Its an amazing peice of software and the price is definitly right.

Forbes had a great piece online titled “Grass-Roots Innovation Takes Root“. The article looks at the current trend of do it yourself DIY mentality that is starting to take off. The article looks at projects like MAKE Magazine, open source code projects, and various hacks. Forbes also profiled eight ‘do it yourselfers’ who are changing to world, from building rocket ships with catalog parts to selling standardized genetic parts to make your own drugs, plastics, and petroleum products.
I think its high time North American started bring technology hacks and innovation to everyday life. The success of our economy rests on our ability to innovate and a lot of that comes down to our culture. Japan for example has a culture of innovation, children build robots and play with electronics at a young age, man of them strive to understand how they work and go on to engineer some of the incredible robot culture the country has developed. The more our culture hungers for innovative technology and the more people that are pushing the envelope the better off our society will be.

Ever wonder what the deepest hole every dug was? OK well maybe you never have thought about it, but it is interesting to know nevertheless.  During the cold war the Soviets decided to dig a hole as deep as the possibly could, given their geographic location digging a hole to China would have been out of the question. They started digging their hole in a remote mining community named Pechenga, the goal was to beat an American scientific team to something called the ‘Mohorovicic Discontinuity’ (Moho), the heavily disputed boundry between the earths crust and magma filled mantle. The Russians continued to dig for over fifteen years eventually reaching a depth of 40,226 ft, the current world record.

There is loads of space junk right here on planet earth! Oobject has put together a great list of various Space Junk that has been abandoned and forgotten since the dawn of the space age. The lists look at abandoned space junk from both NASA and the Russian Space Agency. There is everything from a Russian shuttle that was never completed to a NASA rocket launch trailer full of equipment left out in a dessert. Gizmodo also went through the list and provided their take on all the space junk.

Japanese gaming company Sega has partnered with Japans cosmetics giant Shieseido to create a new game for the Nintendo DS. The “Project Beauty” game will allow girls (…perhaps some boys too..) to scan a picture of themselves into the DS where they can then see how different colors and styles of make up would look on them. It also provides beauty tips and advice on applying makeup. It is not clear what age group the game is targeting it looks to be meant for a younger audience that is just starting to experiment with make up. Although that will not stop it from being a ton of fun for older girls too. Project beauty has a November 27th, 2008 release date and will hopfully be available in both Japanese and English.

Surrey Satellite Technology began in the 1970’s when the commercial space industry was all but non-existant. Co founder and CEO Professor Sir Martin Sweeting partnered with his university to create a company that began developing low cost satelites. The article from the Guardian has a fascinating look at the history of the company as well as the past present and future of micro satelites.

“According to SSTL, a large satellite might weigh more than 1,000kg, cost $500m and take years to develop. One of its micro-satellites, by comparison, would weigh 100kg, cost $10m and take 18 months to put together”.

There is some fear that these micro satelites could clutter the space around the earth, a fear that is more then warrented given the amount of debree already floating about space. With satelites costing a mear $10 million dollars many companies, and even a few wealthy individuals may be reserving their spot on the assembly line in the near future.

Wherever TV’s International TV Receiver allows your to access hundred of international TV stations. Why would you want to do this? Well there is the free TV, and for those of use that have learned/are learning another language it means a great way to keep your skills sharp and learn more about a culture of your choice. The Wherever receiver can be hooked up directly to your TV and does not require any PC to work.
Although many of the channels are rather uninteresting there are a lot of gems in the thousands of channels to choose from. You can easily get your news, sports, sitcoms, and music videos for your country of choice. If you have a global perspective, are studying another culture, or have a cultural heritage you want to stay in touch with Wherever TV is for you.

Japanese company Anobar has released a prototype for a high resolution set-top feed display. The small rectangular screen which can be put on top or below your TV will gather comments from message boards about the show you are currently watching and display them on a feed which scrolls across the screen. It can also display news and stock information. The system runs an embedded version of Windows XP. Although the prototype cost $2,000 to make the company expects the device will be available to consumers for under $300 when it is mass produced.

Although widely available in East Asia, the Talk Man language translator for the Sony PSP is difficult to find in North America. I ordered mine from the Asian game exporter Play Asia. The Talkman comes with a UMD disc full of language games and a USB microphone that plugs into the top of the PSP is provided. The user can speak words or phrases into the microphone and the Talkman will translate from English to Korean, Japanese, and Mandarin. It can also work backwards translating any of those languages to English. Just speak into the microphone and you will be given a list of phrases the game thinks your trying to say.
The whole process is moderated by an animated bird named Max. Luckily the game is not as lame as the bird, or the pathetic yet humorous video on the website. The video shows some Japanese guy picking up these ugly bottom of the barrel English teachers in Japan. As most devices marketed in Japan, classy is not in the Talkman’s vocabulary.
Don’t throw away your electronic dictionary just yet. The Talkman is only a game, and meant to be used to learn a language or navigate a foreign country. It is incredibly useful for asking directions and making some small talk, and although its vocabulary and range is impressive it is still only the equivalent to a small phrase book.
The Talkman is a great toy for anyone learning the languages it uses. It presents the language in a fun way, and is very big on proper pronunciation. I would also recomend it for someone traveling in Korea, China, or Japan with no knowledge of the local language, it can be a big help getting around. However, it takes a long time to get into the translation section from the time you turn on your PSP drasticly slowing its effectiveness as a translator.

Although many Chinese electronics manufactures turn out an endless supply of generic knock offs one company stands out from the pack and attempts to inject a bit of creativity into their products. Neux Corporation has made small waves through out the consumer electronics industries more then once with their inovative designs. Not content with keeping the mp3 player constricted to a box or rectangle form Neux has made several inovative fun designs for their mp3 devices. One device features two mp3 players that form kissing faces, when the two players are together they form a heart. Another player inspired by the upcoming Chinese Olympics has the appearance of a gold medal.

When so many companies are turning out generic cookie cutter designs its nice to see one company that is trying to stand out from the crowd and offering something that is at least a little different.