digitization

The tech behind Google's Street View

I spent a good part of yesterday tooling around with the new Google Maps Street View feature. It's one of those Web services that just works. Here at CNET, we're also centrally located in one of the few cities (San Francisco) to have nearly all of its main thoroughfares Street View-enabled. The data for four of the five Street View-enabled cities comes from a company called Immersive Media. In addition to these interactive 3D pictures, they use the same technology for videos. Both use an 11-lens camera called Dodeca 2360 that captures an immensely large surface area of … Read more

Hot deal on the Samsung SPF-72H Digital Picture Frame

Digital picture frames have been around for a while, but they just don't seem to have taken off in the way I had expected. I suppose it can be chalked up to their seeming like more of a novelty than the sort of pragmatic sort of technology that one would think of, like an MP3 player, but one has to admit they're pretty darn cool. If you've been thinking about picking one of these up, now's your chance as you can get the Samsung SPF-72H Digital Picture Frame for only $129.99 after a $20 rebate … Read more

iTunes updates for DRM-free music

After Steve Jobs' open letter to record executives back in February, it was clear that DRM-free music (music without digital rights management technology) wasn't far away for Apple users. Today, the concept became a reality with the release of iTunes 7.2 (download it for Windows or Mac OS X).

As of today, all of the songs from music label EMI on Apple's iTunes Store will be free of DRM via a new service called iTunes Plus. (Note: that link will open iTunes and take you to iTunes Plus, but only if you have version 7.2 installed.)… Read more

Concept 360-degree panorama cam draws lots of interest, little understanding

Update, 5/30/07: I knew this wasn't the first concept of its kind, and sure enough, our own Candace Lombardi had covered one in a previous life. Cedric Tay's 360 Degree Digital Camera even won a European design award.

While it lacks the visceral impact of the film version shown to the left, designer Ye Chen's hypothetical digital camera optimized for shooting 360-degree panoramas has the advantage of being a lot smaller and cooler looking. The camera concept, posted today on the Yanko Design site, incorporates a rotating camera lens, essentially turning the entire camera body … Read more

Palm's Jeff Hawkins to unveil new device Wednesday

Palm sent out a teaser to the media Tuesday, dropping word that company founder Jeff Hawkins will introduce "a new category of mobile device" at the D: All Things Digital conference on Wednesday.

No further details were provided. Hawkins invented the Palm Pilot, the ubiquitous personal digital assistant of the 1990s, and left Palm to found Handspring's development of the Treo. Hawkins is currently working at a start-up called Numenta with former colleague and Palm co-founder Donna Dubinsky.

Perhaps Hawkins has Palm's answer to Apple's iPhone, or some new product that will heighten the speculation … Read more

Sonos offers new hardware bundle, adds Pandora compatibility

In the past, Sonos has offered two configurations of its multiple-room Digital Music System--the original ZonePlayer 100 Bundle, and the more recent ZonePlayer 80 Bundle. The built-in amplifier on the ZP100 meant that you needed only to add speakers, while the ampless ZP80 was designed to plug into a nearby stereo system, AV receiver, or boom box. As of today, the company is splitting the difference. The new BU130 bundle includes one ZP100, one ZP80, and--the key ingredient--the company's unique CR100 wireless remote, which offers complete control of the two-room system with its iPod-like scroll wheel and color LCD … Read more

Kodak's CMOS camera will be 5-megapixel

BOSTON, Mass.--Eastman Kodak plans to release its own CMOS sensor in a Kodak camera and several Motorola cell phones by the end of the year.

Kodak President Antonio Perez shared the info at the JPMorgan Technology Conference in Boston on Monday.

While Perez would not release details on the camera phone, he did say that the new Kodak camera would have a Kodak-developed CMOS chip and be a 5-megapixel camera. The Kodak CMOS camera will be released in time for the holiday season and the Motorola-Kodak camera phone with a Kodak CMOS chip will follow close behind.

Kodak has been known to be developing a CMOS sensor … Read more

Sony's sleek digital voice recorder

While cruising around SonyStyle looking for some clue as to whether the NW-A800 might be prepping for a stateside launch, I came across the ICD-U50. What struck me about this device is that it was listed under MP3 players with a 256MB capacity, and I thought "what the...Sony is still selling 256MB MP3 players...and for $99.95!" But then I realized that the ICD-U50 is actually a multifunctional digital voice recorder, and a stylish one at that. I mean, we don't get a lot of standalone voice recorders around here, but I can say with … Read more

Amazon to offer DRM-free music from EMI

Critics of digital rights management have long insisted that record labels could boost sagging sales by offering music unencumbered by copy-protection schemes.

Apple's iTunes and e-tailer Amazon.com are in position to test this hypothesis in the coming months. On Wednesday, Amazon announced that it plans to sell DRM-free digital songs from the record label EMI Group. Amazon's unprotected music, which will be sold from the retailer's upcoming download store, can be played on a wide variety of portable music players, including Apple's iPod and Microsoft's Zune. Amazon's news follows a similar announcement last … Read more

Deal of the day: Canon PowerShot SD750 7.1 MP camera for $260

Sandwiched between similar 7-megapixel siblings--the PowerShot SD800 IS on one side and the PowerShot SD1000 on the other--the Canon PowerShot SD750 nevertheless manages to distinguish itself as a well-designed, practical option for snapshooters who favor big LCDs over optical viewfinders.

If you're the rebating kind, there are some impressive rebates associated with this offer, including two on printers and one on poster-sized prints from Shutterfly. Check out the seller's site for details.

What: Canon PowerShot SD750 How much: $259.95 Shipping: Free, varies Where: Amazon.com (via FatWallet.com) When: Through unknown date Click here for product review.… Read more