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optics

Innovative editing

In a world overflowing with image-editing software, DxO Optics Pro is a shining star. The DxO online database allows users to select from any number of manufacturers' camera bodies and lenses, and then use the optical characteristics of said cameras and lenses to fine-tune their images and correct for the particular shortcomings on Camera X or Lens Y. That's definitely not something you see every day.

The program features a very intuitive workflow. Select, Prepare, Process, and Review modules separate the tasks most photographers will use to process their images, but the Process module is where DxO Optics Pro … Read more

Will light replace cables in blade servers?

A start-up has plans to turn the traditional approach to blade servers on its ear, and it's not just smoke and mirrors. But it is light and mirrors.

For the past seven years, Lightfleet has been working on a technology that employs light signals to replace the cabling and switches typically used to connect various server nodes in a blade server. And as of December, it had delivered its first unit--to Microsoft's Research's labs.

Lightfleet's first product is code-named Beacon, a 32-node server that uses dual-core Intel processors along with standard off-the-shelf disks, memory, and storage … Read more

Crave giveaway of the week: Lensbaby package

Though we haven't had a digital-imaging-related giveaway in a while, we have a good one this week from Lensbaby for all of you with dSLR cameras. We're not only offering up the Lensbaby Composer Lens but we're also throwing in the two newest additions to the Lensbaby Optic Swap System, the Fisheye Optic, and the Soft Focus Optic.

That's a pretty sweet package.  The good news is that if you win, Lensbaby will send you the right products for your specific camera, whether it's a Canon EF (EOS), Nikon F, Sony Alpha A / Minolta … Read more

Google moves toward fiber network locale

Google over the next few months will be reviewing locales where it may build its experimental fiber network.

The search giant in February said it would build an experimental fiber optic network in an attempt to illustrate the art of the possible in a small number of communities in the U.S. Since that news, Google has been pitched by 600 responses from communities. Individuals also chimed in.

Now that requests for information are about over, Google will make a selection. Google said in a post:

Over the coming months, we'll be reviewing the responses to determine where to … Read more

Brace yourself for the era of the 'fingermouse'

LONDON--The same technology that exterminated the roller-ball computer mouse will claim another casualty soon: the four-way rocker switch that lets people point and click on countless mobile phones.

So asserts Jeff Raynor, principal technologist of ST Microelectronics' imaging division and a designer of the image sensors at the heart, or rather in the eyes, of optical mice. He spoke at the Image Sensors Europe conference here.

What will extinguish the rocker switch? What Raynor calls the "fingermouse"--a small, smooth pad you can sweep your finger over to direct a mouse pointer on a screen. Some newer BlackBerry phones sport the devices.

Fingermice use exactly the same image sensors as optical mice, but they're mounted upside-down, pointing upward toward a finger rather than downward toward a desk. The sensors take 400-pixel images, then recognize the movement of features in the photo sequence--desk irregularities or fingerprints, for example--to gauge motion.

Raynor's company makes silicon-chip image sensors for optical mice, so one shouldn't be surprised by his enthusiasm, but he is in a position to know what he's talking about.… Read more

Cloak of invisibility becomes more foreseeable

It came too late for Jesse James. There was a time, indeed, when John Edwards might have found it very useful, but that time has surely passed.

In life, timing is everything. So while researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany claim that they have made a breakthrough in invisible-cloak technology, there are far too many mortal souls who can only wish that they would hurry up.

According to the Associated Press, the German scientists managed to successfully hide from greedy eyes a tiny bump in a layer of gold.

When I say "tiny," I mean 0.… Read more

Topeka unofficially rechristens itself 'Google'

There's a "Wizard of Oz" joke to be made here: The city of Topeka, Kansas has unofficially changed its name to "Google" in an attempt to get on the Mountain View tech giant's radar as a test bed for new fiber-optic technology that would bring it Internet connections at top speed.

The Topeka Capital-Journal wrote that Mayor Bill Bunten signed a proclamation Monday that designates the town as "Google" for the duration of March, in an attempt to make it a more palatable choice for a test market than some of the … Read more