Uploaded by jonaspfeil on Oct 5, 2011
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ballcamera

We present the Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera which captures a full spherical panorama when thrown into the air. At the peak of its flight, which is determined using an accelerometer, a full panoramic image is captured by 36 mobile phone camera modules.

Patent pending. More info: http://jonaspfeil.de/ballcamera
Please check our Frequently Asked Questions: http://jonaspfeil.de/ballcamera/faq

A project of the Computer Graphics Group, TU Berlin.

To be presented as an Emerging Technologies demonstration at the SIGGRAPH Asia 2011: Jonas Pfeil, Kristian Hildebrand, Carsten Gremzow, Bernd Bickel, Marc Alexa

Diploma thesis ‘Throwable Camera Array for Capturing Spherical Panoramas’:
Jonas Pfeil. Advisors: Marc Alexa, Carsten Gremzow

Video: Jonas Pfeil, Junny Chen, Qian Qin, Björn Bollensdorff

Voice: Hugh Jeremy

Music: ADO and Wonderland by IZCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPd_rJZmvLc

Video licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0

We would like to thank Axel Kretzschmann for helpful tips on high speed electronics, Analog Devices, Inc., for providing parts and STMicroelectronics for helpful information regarding the camera module.

Thanks to Hugh Jeremy for providing the voice-over. Check out his awesome channel on Natural Selection 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkgztfuij2w

Patent pending, http://jonaspfeil.de/ballcamera
Category:
Science & Technology
Tags:
omnidirectional camera panorama panoramic ball throwable

Uploaded by Wacom on Aug 29, 2011

Wacom introduces Inkling, a new digital sketch pen that captures a digital likeness of your work while you sketch with its ballpoint tip on any sketchbook or standard piece of paper.

Me: Looks great, maybe I’ll actually use a more natural interface with a pen versus a mouse on my macs. [sigh]

This is kind’a scary. Long ago I decided that I should not be ashamed of my continual attraction to computer/iPad/iPhone cases any more than what I’ve noted of the attraction of my female friends to all things shoes and accessories. So here’s my latest acquisition in the world of iPhone 4 cases, the Book Book for iPhone4 by TwelveSouth. My one and only venture in filio/wallet type iphone cases was Griffin Tech’s Elan Passport Wallet, which I only used once or twice and then exiled to the “was a good idea at the time” drawer.

So the book-book was a complete impulse buy and the first thing that I noticed was that, in keeping with the vintage book look, the case has no cut-out in the back for the camera. I take a lot of pictures with my iPhone so this should have been a real deal killer. Funny thing was that the Elan Passport had the camera cut-out but didn’t make the cut, so why is it that I’ve kept using the book-book case? I think that the book-book does a better job being a phone-case/wallet hybrid than the Elan because of the little ID window and bill fold pocket that’s missing in the Elan. Also, there’s something fun, for those who have known me for years, that I’m carrying around what looks like a little book (bible?). Oh yeah, when I finally looked at the video from Twelve-South (above top), I realized that I could take pictures by lifting up the red tab and sliding the iPhone up just enough to uncover the camera lens. Not too elegant, but it gets the job done and it’s a fun case (almost as much fun as the video implies).

Temple Bags – Laptop Briefcase from McManus Studios on Vimeo.

I have an iPad (1) Temple cover/bag, love it… always thinking about the next “upgrade.”

With the demise of one of my two discontinued Griffin Evolve wireless speakers I’m left to again ponder how I want to share my media in my house. Be prepared for lots of first-world technology nonsense in the following paragraphs. I’m sure that most people solve their need for moving their media around their house by picking up their ipods/iphones and jamming their earbuds in their ears. It’s a pretty good solution.

My pre-evolve-demise set up was to have one main media server (mac mini) in my upstairs office with music, DVDs, stored movies and podcasts. My main source for news and entertainment has been the podcasts that I subscribe to. So when I wanted to listen to podcasts in the upstairs bathrooms or anywhere in the house I would pick up one evolve wireless speaker and carry it with me to the room (most podcasts are monophonic so i only needed either of the two speakers). In the downstairs living room I was using my PS3 to watch DVDs, Blurays, media streaming from the upstairs server and some Internet streaming. In the bedroom I have an iHome clock/radio where I dock my iPhone to play podcasts and I read ebooks or watch video podcasts on my iPad. There’s no TV in the bedroom.

Like I said it was a pretty functional set-up but there was plenty of room for improvement and the loss of the evolve wireless speakers encouraged me to look into some kind of upgrade. Let’s start downstairs. After the last system update of my PS3, it won’t display the video stream from TWiT.tv and never was very good streaming any Internet video. And any sort of hick-up between the upstairs server and the PS3 and I couldn’t view/listen to my podcast subscriptions. So, the PS3 has been good for watching Blurays but pretty much a C- when it came to anything else. The other thing about the living room set up is that my couch is a little over 16-feet from my TV so even at 42-inches the TV seems too small and too far away. So, I’d like to upgrade the TV to 60-inches and am marginally hopeful that some of these Internet-ready ones will “solve” the problem of not being able to access either my media or podcasts stored on my media server. But after looking at the Vizio “internet widgets,” these “internet-ready” TVs feel a lot like the PS3′s kind-a works set-up. I could just get another mac mini, but I’d rather not throw down $800 on a box until I see whether the much cheaper long promised Boxee Box does the job for $500 less. And then there’s Google TV appearing on Sony TVs in the undetermined future. Ack. I think I’m holding off on anything TV until November/holiday/SuperBowl time frame.

Then there’s the problem of not only having a TV screen too far away, but having my speakers 16-feet away also. Probably compensating for not having a giant wall size display I’d love to crank up the volume but I’ve already had the dreaded wall-knocking from my townhouse neighbors when the volume was nowhere near “11″ so that’s not going to work. Add to that I’ve had the same receiver/amp so long that the VCR that made the 5.1 really cool died over five years ago. It’s a dinosaur and with the little satellite speakers 16-feet there’s almost nothing immersive about my home-theater experience.

I’d like to have something with an A/B switch so that if I’m working from my dining room table over 19-feet away across the room I could switch on bookshelf speakers right next to me and not have to blast the whole room (and adjoining rooms). I might also just move the main speakers half-way across the room so they’re closer to the couch. I used to have these giant 4-foot speakers that I left in CA that would do nicely in the living room. Damn. Then there’d be wires running all around the room. I hate wires. Further study is required.

I have the mac mini media server connected to a TV in the upstairs office but I’m not happy with only having the TV speakers for music and movies. I’d also like to get a bluray player so that I can watch my newer discs upstairs and not just downstairs. There are a few home-theater-in-a-box solutions, but it does seem weird to possibly have a better sound system in the office than what I have in the living room. I really wish that I could just add an inexpensive bluray drive to my mac mini. Grrh.

As far as getting my podcasts in the bathrooms and other bedroom, I’ve looked at the Sonos systems and it does seem like overkill, even for me. I mean, I could just buy an inexpensive dock-with-speakers and use my iPhone in the bathrooms. Crap, after re-reviewing the Sonos site I’m hard pressed to find another solution that’s quite elegant. Here I thought I at least had one easy solution. Problem is that half the time I’m watching video podcasts and the Sonos is audio only. Damn.

My previous look into my media setup: http://joebustillos.com/2010/01/23/moving-media-around-the-house/

Source: engadget/Apple Noir

There are all kinds of mods popping up all over the Internets (like the kitchen cabinet mod), but this past week I’ve started to see mods that seem to harken to a different tech era (mostly courtesy engadget). The first one found the beautiful “magical” iPad implanted into what was called Apple’s Toilet Seat laptop when it was first introduced in 1999. In this updated version the modder replaced the LCD screen with the iPad and used the camera kit to attach the USB keyboard. In the spirit of the first iBook, the modder openly admitted that it’s a bit of kludge (because, for example, you cannot close the laptop without scratching the iPad’s screen), but it’s an ingenious mod nonetheless.

The second mod hardens all the way back to the original 1984 Macintosh. This modder took an empty or hollowed out Mac Classic case and cut a slot on one side for the user to insert the iPad, making the Mac case into an iPad stand. In a later mod (and video) the modder added a keyboard using the camera connection kit/USB. I love the new low profile Apple Keyboard, but the one in the video is very reminiscent of the original number key-less keyboard that I used on the Mac classics that I used in the late 1980s at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan college newspaper (in the entertainment section, the rest of the paper used AT&T’s short-lived DOS-based PCs).

The last mod is crazy nostalgic. I love engadget’s write up on this mod commenting, “nothing compares to the pure, physical, carpal tunnel-inducing feel of a manual typewriter,” which probably explains my love of the low profile keyboards after years on manual typewriters. I remember well the clackity, clack, Ding! Watching the short video, however reminded me more of something out of the David Cronenberg adaptation of William Burroughs’s Naked Lunch. That’s probably not the impression the modder was going for. According to engadget a DIY kit can be had for $75, while a ready-to-click fully-assembled version runs between $400 to $500. Further info on this project can be found at http://www.usbtypewriter.com/

Crazy. jbb

Rhythm game inches ever closer to ruining the game by making all your hours of playing result in the practical skill of actually learning how to play the musical instruments… First they made fans look silly playing miniature plastic instruments and now all of this might result in actually learning how to play music. Talk about accidental education.

“It’s no secret that we’re all gadget geeks at Full Sail University so when EMDTMS Course Director Joe Bustillos brought in this jewel, the iPad 3g, which doesn’t even launch at stores until 5 pm today, he drew a crowd of onlookers. Bustillos pre-ordered his iPad to use as a media center for his music and movies at home, and all of us are really grateful he let us join in on the unveiling. Now you can join in, too, for a sneak peek of Apple’s newest product!

P.S. Bustillos is always up on the latest and greatest technology, and he helps others keep up with him at his blog.”

Media center? Well, maybe, but more likely trying to keep up with my students’ blogs, email and my own blog… At least that’s the theory.

Source:
video & text: Gadget Geek Joe Bustillos Unveils His Prereleased iPad 3G!, fso blogs. http://www.fsoblogs.com/community/2010/4/30/gadget-geek-joe-bustillos-unveils-his-prereleased-ipad-3g.html retrieved on 5/2/2010

Then we have this dream sequence/history of Apple’s computer designs. Beautifully done, but I don’t see how they could have left out the evolution of the iMac or iPod, except maybe they couldn’t get the curves of their virtual rendition to look right…

Finally we have the latest iPad ad, that debuted during Sunday’s Oscar broadcast…

Then there’s this excellent example of the tech news analysis by Tom Merritt and Rafe Needleman in CNET’s “Real Deal” podcast. The two put the iPad announcement into the historical context, looking at many of the previous, mostly failed, attempts to popularize the tablet/handheld class of computer. Make sure to visit the podcast website, these guys have excellent show notes and links to all of the gadgets mentioned in the video/podcast.

Then there’s this speculative editorial that wants to pass itself off as news reporting. Molly Wood is a smart, funny journalist, but she’s definitely from the media personality school of thought where snarky strong opinions are pushed to the front, generating huge positive or negative responses. I can’t watch this video without getting pissed-off. Ack. Moving on.

Discounting the noise being made by those who flat out hate all things Apple, iPhone or Steve Jobs, I’ve noted at least two trends between the fanboys and the haters. The first trend seems to be that pretty much none of the haters have actually touched the device and are making their vitriolic pronouncements based on the videos and the device spec sheet. This leads to the second observation: all of the haters are freaking out about all of the things the device doesn’t have. Oh my god, it doesn’t have a walk-in closet! Perhaps you missed that opening slide in the keynote where Jobs placed the device between a smart phone and a laptop. The idea is that the device will have things missing in the smart phone and won’t have things found on the laptop, like a three-car garage (crap, now I’m sounding like Molly Wood). Moving on.

In the Real Deal podcast, Needleman said that the Newton failed because it tried to do too much given the technology limitations of the time, whereas the Palm succeeded because it focused on a few things that needed to get done: contact list, calendar, notes and successfully syncing the three with one’s PC. Years later the iPhone successfully followed that path by focusing on being a great phone, being a great media player and being a great internet device. AND they had the wisdom to NOT try to boot-strap the Windows/OSX mouse/keyboard based user-interface to the thing. They broke with the past and focused on what needed to get done (a la Palm). Conversely, Microsoft had already been churning away in the smartphone space for years when the iPhone was introduced, but all they kept doing was trying to cram the Windows desktop (that was meant for big desktop LCD screens) onto tiny 2-inch screens and it did not take hold because Window-Mobile required seven-menu choices to do anything. Anyone remember this video from a few years ago on what it might have been like if Microsoft had produced the first iPod box?

Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Time Columnist, said it best in his initial reflection on the device, writing that the device is not something that can easily be assessed by a feature list or an illustration. I think the reason that the iPad is more than a dumbed-down tablet or giant-iTouch is that it’s not meant to be a stand-alone do-everything desktop computer replacement. In fact, it’s greatest feature might be something that has nothing to do with it’s beautiful design or the list of things it doesn’t have. The revolution that the iPhone started, of having useful Internet connectivity in the palm of your hand… maybe the iPad represents the next step as far as having an even better experience playing ones media, a more immersive experience interacting with “print” journalism in a way that books, newspapers and magazine could never deliver, and in a form-factor that’s much more natural than a keyboard and mouse. It’s not the thing, it’s what the thing connects you to. The word Portal comes to mind.

OLPC-meet-Taco-Beach by Joe Bustillos

Who needs it? asks all of the haters and most of the pundits. It’s not for the PC hardware tweakers or the hardcore gamers. Leo Laporte says it’s not for content creators, but I think that depends on what kind of content one is creating. I have begun blog entries and other correspondence on my iPhone. The idea that I can have the same access anywhere at any time and have more screen space to work with (and I can choose to use a real keyboard!), I’m in. I wrote a few weeks ago about the difference it would make having a smaller footprint than my 15′ laptop while enjoying those long afternoons cheering on my teams in my local pubs while grading papers and/or writing my blog. In fact, not long after I got my OLPC-XO netbook-sized $100 I took it to my local pub to enjoy the evening. I loved the size but the machine was just too underpowered and UI was too weird to be useful. That’s one of the things that’s kept me from buying one of the cheap netbooks, the prospect that it’d be too underpowered to do the things that I want to do. I watched the videos from CES of IdeaPad U1 hybrid, and when they used the touch and swipe gestures, the device lagged behind the finger. Two Processors and still underpowered. Boo! the The other thing that stopped me was that I wanted always-connected G3 service without having to dish out another $60 a month. I want to be able to grab my small device and write or play with my blogs while out and about. When I need to break-out the Final Cut Pro or need to spread my Dreamweaver layouts across three large monitors I have my macbook pro or my 27″ iMac to get the job down. But lately I’ve been choosing to compose and edit work while on my treadmill or on the couch. So, I guess I must be one of those “no ones” that Molly Wood was talking about (did she actually predict that there’s a market of only 2800 people for this thing? Maybe she confused this for the Palm Pre or her beloved Droid…[snark]).

You know who else this device might be for? My mom. She does email and loves getting photos of her grandchildren. I gave her a mac mini a few years ago but the combination of me living too far away to help her when the Internet breaks and the fact that she uses the computer just infrequently enough to never be very good at it makes me wonder if something like the iPad might work for her. Besides being a simplified device that’s always connected (saving her probably $30 a month to drop her DSL service!), she can use the thing anywhere she wants to, making the “computer” something that she doesn’t have to go to a special room (their spare bedroom) to do and maybe she’ll do it frequently enough to enjoy it more. Only downside (besides the price) is that I’d worry that if it fell off the couch she or dad would step on it and break it. Damn. Having a camera for video-chat would be great too (the OLPC-XO had that!). My siblings and I just bought mom a new 19″ LCD because the old CRT was … old. I think she need to break out of that room and grab the Internet with both hands, but I’m probably the only one who thinks that.

The device might not be meant for content creators, except for us text-jockeys and bloggers who like to roam when we write. But content creators, especially the vanishing “print” media, better be paying attention because this might open up a real platform to re-imagine what they could be producing and marketing. It could completely blur the lines between what used to be called Print and Audio and Video. Add social networking and citizen journalism and you have something completely different. I already have a plug-in that make my blog more iPhone-friendly, I’d love to see a WordPress plug-in that would retain more of my magazine-style blog layout. Then there’s the problem that I like posting flash videos in my posts and Adobe and Apple aren’t getting along. Damn. If they don’t fix it, then someone will because we want our videos and we’re not going to wait for h.264 Quicktime downloads. Well, Time, Inc. understands the potential. Question is whether they’ll join up or try to lash-up their own walled garden. I wonder if this might help Mad Magazine go back to being a monthly instead of a quarterly. I’d subscribe to Mad Magazine on my iPad. Too bad only 2800 posers will be buying this thing ’cause it doesn’t include a fire-alarm or any self-sealing stem bolts. Damn.

Sources:

YouTube video: Jobs Unveils “iPad” by CBSNewsOnline. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poaUbmdUcCY retrieved on 2/15/2010

Real Deal Podcast 195: Tablet computers. http://www.cnet.com/8301-17920_1-10443889-84.html retrieved on 2/15/2010

YouTube video: CNET Buzz Report: Special iPad Edition by CNETTV. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggww65cg2FM retrieved on 2/15/2010

YouTube video: Microsoft iPod by romph. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeXAcwriid0 retrieved on 2/15/2010

Apple gives every other reader reason to be nervous with iPad by By ANDY IHNATKO, Sun-Times Columnist. http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/2015552,ihnatko-ipad-apple-launch-jobs-012710.article retrieved on 2/15/2010

image: OLPC Goes to Taco Beach by Joe Bustillos. http://joebustillos.com/2008/03/29/olpc-goes-to-taco-beach/ retrieved on 2/15/2010

IdeaPad U1 Hybrid Hands-On: Meet Voltron. He Could Be Amazing by Brian Barrett. http://gizmodo.com/5440922/ideapad-u1-hybrid-hands+on-meet-voltron-he-could-be-amazing retrieved on 2/15/2010

YouTube video: Sports Illustrated – Tablet Demo 1.5 by thewonderfactoryny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk retrieved on 2/15/2010

info: self-sealing stem bolts. http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Self-sealing_stem_bolt retrieved on STARDATE -313125.89 (2/15/2010)

How much more efficient would it have been if I had some device, roughly 8×11, where I could have marked up the documents (in their native electronic form), that could run all day on a single charge and had access to the Internet even when there’s no nearby wifi. Hmm. No, I guess I could make the notes on the text with my finger, but a stylus works too. I doubt it’ll have a stylus, but I have to wonder if Apple’s upcoming announcement next Wednesday will include the announcement of a device that fulfills this content creation need. The announcement better not be just a rev of the iLife suite. Ack.

Sources:
image by Joe Bustillos

It really comes down to current limitations in the HCI (Human/Computer Interface) area, specifically finding the best ways to get information into and out of these devices. We are limited by the size of the displays we find useful and the size of the keyboard. All of this would radically change should we find a projection technology that presents the visual feedback via a glasses based heads-up-display (HUD), or maybe projects the image right into the eye(s) of the user. As for keyboard/mouse input, there are already projection devices being developed, but what if a virtual reality overlay technology were included in the HUD display being projected into the glasses/eyes so that one would see a virtual keyboard attached to any user-selected flat surface. Of course, if voice-recognition were really functional than the keyboard would be just a secondary editing device used more for error correction than composition. Thus with some combination of VR/HUD and voice recognition the actual computer hardware might easily be the size of an iPhone (CPU, memory, battery, communications links) that never leaves ones pocket. And if/when the input/output become neural with direct links to the brain’s visual and language centers (the wiring harness discretely hidden in a stylish hat, of course), than the hardware might be the size of a piece of jewelry like the Star Trek Next Generation communicator badges. This may all seem very far fetched, but it’s really no more far fetched than having flexible display materials that can be rolled up into a tube.

Sources:
YouTube: Future Designer laptop – ROLLTOP //Diploma Thesis// posted by orkinful, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H0K1k54t6A retrieved on 11/01/2009.
Thanks to CK for sending me a copy of the video

Long Beach studio circa 1999 - image by joe bustillos

So I packed books and everything in the bedroom and started taking apart my home office, disconnecting all the monitors (three) and gadgets. I decide to set up a temporary office on the dining table in the front room with one external monitor, keyboard and mouse. When I went to bed that first night in the office-less bedroom I was really surprised at how dark that room was. I had to turn on a nightstand light to safely navigate the room. Next surprise was how soundly I seemed to sleep that night. Duh.

This isn’t rocket science, I’d been sleeping in rooms bathed in the continual glow of blue, red and green LEDs, and four monitors showing an earth in space screen saver for as long as I could remember. Of course once I took my glasses off it was all an undefinable glow, but I guess the glow was enough for my brain to not fully “shut off” when I slept. The difference in my sleep before and after removing the office was remarkable. It was remarkable enough that I decided that I was going to forego the bedroom TV or other technology when I move to the townhouse.

I know for many this a “duh” thing, but for me this really is a change in thinking. For years I’ve maintained no difference between my working life writing on the computer while watching some TV and pushing up to and past the point of exhaustion and then just staggering to bed my head still very full of the things I’d been working on. Now I am going to have to be much more deliberate and intentional as I get up from my office chair and walk down the hall to go to sleep. Hell, maybe I’ll develop the habit of doing some reading or talking to late night friends before drifting off to slumberland. A technology-free zone was not something I would have guessed would have come out of this move. Wow.