NEC has unveiled a powerful new infrared camera that can extrapolate
the thermal signatures of objects with absolutely no light present
– a big breakthrough that will result in vastly better night-vision
for consumers everywhere.
Showcased at the 2008 Security Show in Tokyo, the new HX0830M1 camera has been a bit hit due to the
“variety of applications including security- for intruder
detection, disaster relief- for searching for victims; and vision
enhancement- for use in aircraft, ships, and motor vehicles”,
according to Diginfonews .
Further adding to the appeal, the HX0830M1 can be used to collect temperature
distribution data, which will help to keep people out of harm’s way
“in high voltage environments or very high places”.
To truly grasp the night-time resolution enabled by this new
product, you’ve gotta wath the following video:
It’s only a matter of time until we, or our robotic self-driving
cars, will employ such infrared technology to augment our vision
whenever we encounter darkness. In which case it seems like
darkness itself, barring deliberate obfuscation, may be on the way
out.
Ericsson, one of the largest companies in Sweden, unveiled their plans for a revolutionary new cellphone capable of 20 Megapixel photos and true HD video recording capability.
At the press conference, Ericsson representative Jonas Lundstedt said they see the cellphone of the future as more of a “mobile terminal” than just a cellphone. With the capability to replace objects in our lives with just one great device, Ericsson is following the way of some of the other major players in the cellphone industry by combining services and devices into one simple object.
The day is coming where the cellphone could possibly no longer be called a cellphone, but a terminal like Lundstedt mentioned. When the cellphone can function as a phone, camera, video camera, map, credit card, etc, can we even call it a cellphone anymore? With AT&T recently approving the tethering of the iPhone to other devices such as televisions and other household appliances this forecast isn’t too far off. The all-in-one device may only be a few short years away. Maybe call it a Universal Remote?
While you were pounding a few beers back last night, a Korean company unleashed a product into the world that may give the iPod Nano a run for its money. Dubbed the Mintpass, this little guy (only the size of your palm and weighing only 3.2 ounces) has Wi-Fi capabilities, plays music, can chat, blog, function as a post-it and even surf the internet. Did I mention it has a 1.3M camera? Or a speaker and microphone? How about video capability and 4GB of space (on top of an 8GB microSD slot). Think of it as a Nano on steroids. Demo video here.
Back when I lived in LA and worked on reality TV shows I would
often ponder the future of low-cost video production (which is what
enabled both the genre and the explosion of online video content)
and imagine a variety of camera placements that would soon be
enabled by new technologies. I was particularly excited about the
potential for aerial drone cams that could follow characters in new
ways, allow for low cost establishing shots and get to previously
unreachable positions. And so I was psyched to come across this
demo video of a hovering Microdrone camera that allows for
all of the aforementioned:
Of course, it’s been around for about a year (yet another awesome
technology that I’ve missed at inception) and is already being used
for surveillance, exploration, television and more. It currently
runs about $40,000 U.S. but as it drops in cost I expect that
reality TV producers, documentarians, news producers and low-budget
movie producers across the globe will employ it to shoot previously
unthinkable footage. (cont.)
I am pleased to announce the launch of Project Paranoid, a website which hopes to map out the location of every external camera in the world. While some of you might think that a site such as this is unnecassary, there are enough that believe it is. Currently the site only features about 600 camera locations are ound Berkeley, CA (the liberal stronghold) but with user help we hope to expand this all over the globe. London itself has over 1.5 million CCTV cameras, so it's going to be a lot of work.
Currently the site is in a pretty rough form since we're going public ahead of time in order to get support. If you're interested in helping out with designing, writing, programming, cash or even logging cameras, email us at projectparanoid@gmail.com so we can give you some sort of idea on what we're looking for.
(The image above is a screenshot of what the city of Berkeley looks like currently on our site. Clicking the bubbles will give you a picture of the camera and soon other relevant information about it.)
Tanya Vlach lost her left eye in a car accident in 2005, now she’s appealing to the online community to build her an eye capable of recording video. “I am attempting to recreate my eye with the help of a miniature camera implant in my prosthetic / artificial eye.” She gives the dimensions of her current prosthetic and what she wants inside of the replacement.
She believes that it’s possible for the technology of today to construct her an eye that can can record video, take pictures, have a small power source and have a remote trigger (check out the full list here). But it’s not the product she wants which caught my eye (I believe it can be built with current technology) it was her plea to the online community instead of through hospitals. Tanya’s is the first case I’ve heard about where an individual has tried to petition the world to make something that is technologically superior to what’s currently on the market.
While you were pounding a few beers back last night, a Korean company unleashed a product into the world that may give the iPod Nano a run for its money. Dubbed the 
I am pleased to announce the launch of 