Digital Shutters

This site is currently in need of a writer. If you have any interest in writing on the topic this site covers, feel free to submit an application at 451 Press. Thank you.

451 Press, Writers Needed, Digital Shutters

The story goes that one day an utterly bored photographer, who had absolutely nothing to do, was handling his camera like so, flipping and tossing it lightly in his hand, and then out of the blue he thought of setting it on long exposure and tossed it high into the air just before the shutter went off.

In that eternal moment when his camera was high up in the air, he was filled with remorse. “Oh my poor camera, hurtling in space like an aimless ship! Please come back to my hand safely and I promise never to do that again,� said he.

Fortunately he caught the camera on its way down and it did not break into pieces. Then he looked at the LCD, and admired the image that the camera took on its own.

“My, what a lovely work of art,� said he. He stopped for a moment and pondered his eureka moment. Then he did it again. And again.

And thus was born the art of camera tossing.

[Via: PhotoJojo.com]

camera, tossing, bored, photographer, crazy, nuts, art

Photo Credit: Engadget

NASA’s Ames Intelligent Robot Group and Carnegie Mellon University say they have developed a robot that can shoot panorama photos on its own using a digital camera. They call it the Gigapan and they plan to unleash it to the public so they too can shoot panorama photos.

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s fairly easy to make panorama pictures with your ordinary digital camera using a steady hand (or a tripod) and a stitching software.

And maybe it was just me, but when I checked out their “dynamically viewable images,� it disappeared beyond the top of my browser every time I tried to zoom in and all I had was a black screen without any photo at all.

Coming from CMU and NASA, the Gigapan must be a worthwhile project. After all, the idea for the robot and its associated software came from Mars rovers (Gee, thanks; you have something to show for your Giga-bucks budget). Maybe they can indeed provide support for disaster relief efforts or publish National Geographic content in Google Earth. But if all they can offer are panorama photos that disappear as you zoom in, thanks guys; but no thanks.

My monkey can do that. Better.

[Site: Gigapan.org]

[Links: Engadget.com, Adorama.com, Primidi.com]

Update: As of 0745H GMT Feb 05 2007 the Engadget news item about the Gigapan has been removed. Why?

gigapan, nasa, ames, robot, panorama, photos, google, national geographic

Meraki is a 15-employee start-up in Mountain View, Calif., and what they propose to do is “to bring affordable Internet access to the next billion people.� Big dream.

But with big money from Google and Sequoia Capital, that big dream just might be achievable. Meraki’s new approach to wireless networking seeks to empower individuals and groups to bring access to local communities, anywhere in the world.

This is how they intend to do it: instead of a central tower to provide broadband signal to homes, Meraki proposes to equip the homes with Internet boxes that serve as signal receivers and transmitters in a mesh network of computers in a neighborhood.

It looks to me like mimicking the Internet itself on a community level, but instead of just being passive receivers of broadband signals, the homes themselves become active transmitters.

The Meraki device is still a work in progress. Right now they are working on a $49 mini device and another $99 outdoor box to connect everybody in the planet to the Internet.

Big dream. Fine idea. Good luck.

[Site: Meraki.net]

[Via: The New York Times]

meraki, internet, connect, broadband, masses, google, sequoia

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 has been certified for Windows Vista, and is now out in the market trumpeting its 40 new features and 400 enhancements.

The graphics suite bundles the page layout program CorelDRAW X3, the bitmap-to-vector software PowerTRACE, and the photo editing program PHOTO-PAINT X3 that includes a new color adjustment lab.

The X3 collection retails for $379 for the full version or $169 for the upgrade, both now available in either boxed orders or via download.

It features a redesigned user interface, a new crop tool, and improved text handling on the path precision tool. Likewise, Corel added 1000 new fonts and 10,000 clip art images to the bundle.

[Site: Corel.com]

coreldraw, graphics, suite, x3, windows, vista, certified

Casimir Zagourski took photographs of Central Africa between 1924 and 1941 and sold these images as postcards and large prints. The images depict an Africa of a bygone age, when scarring as body ornament was prevalent and skull deformation was practiced.

Many of these images have found their way into the Yale University Library, where a collection of about 200 of Zagourski’s photographs exists. The photos are fascinating. If you look closely at the photograph above, you’ll find scarring on the woman’s face, chest and belly as body ornaments.

On the photo at left you will notice the elongated skull of a woman; it’s not just coiffure, you’re looking at a lengthened head stretched since birth.

Zagourski’s photographs also show us glimpses of African communities in those days before Western culture changed their cultures, their houses, and their customs; how they lived and how they died.

The Zagourski collection may be viewed here.

[Via: Courant.com]

zagourski, africa, photograph, culture, postcard

Canon has overtaken Kodak in sales of digital cameras in the U.S. market, according to market research firm IDC.

Market figures for Q4 2006 show that Canon shipped 2.5 million cameras in the quarter, just ahead of Kodak with 2.4 million and Sony Corp. with 2.2 million. Kodak earlier adopted a strategy to go for profits instead of lowering its prices, indicating that it was willing to lose market share in order to improve profitability.

For all of 2006, digital camera shipments rose 5% to 29.8 million units. Canon had 20% of the market, Sony 17% and Kodak 16%, IDC said.

But the Q4 2006 figures show that the digital camera market in America is cooling off a bit with shipments of 12.1-million units, 3% lower than the 12.4-million sold in Q4 2005.

[Via: The Wall Street Journal]

canon, kodak, us, market, digital, camera, sales, q4, 2006

This is a prototype design of the FlapCam, conceptualized by Matthias Lange, a 24-year old designer based in London. The FlapCam has a folding design to protect its lens and LCD screen when folded up and not in use.

With its folding design, taking photographs at various angles is easy. Matthias says depending on how much the camera is flipped open the user can either make photos of himself or take photos from above (e.g. at live concerts).

Don’t be fooled by the Samsung logo there. This FlapCam design could fit very well with the Casio style.

Design by: Matthias Lange

flapcam, folding, design, camera, matthias, lange