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May 27, 2009 9:37 AM PDT

Philippe Kahn tries to strike a balance

by Ina Fried

CARLSBAD, Calif.--After a shaky start, tech veteran Philippe Kahn impressed the crowd at D by showing how his company's motion-sensing technology could be used to stabilize a blurry cell phone photo.

Kahn's Fullpower Technologies was the first of several companies invited to do a no-slides tech demo at the conference. Kahn drew the ire of Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg when he tried to sneak in some PowerPoint.

The last moments were interesting, though, as Kahn and a co-worker took an iPhone photo and showed it as initially captured and then stabilized using their technology. The best way to explain it is just to show it. Below are the stabilized and unstabilized photos.

Here's the unstabilized shot:

Here is the original shot, as seen on a monitor.

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET)

And here's the one stabilized using Fullpower's technology:

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET)
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina.
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by a3th3r May 27, 2009 9:45 AM PDT
Why did they not show the shame frame before and after stabilization? I think that would have made a much more convincing demontration
Reply to this comment
by BillPStudios May 27, 2009 10:01 AM PDT
But... They're not the same photo?

In the first one the guy has his hand up. In the 2nd he doesn't.
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by eadeguzman May 28, 2009 10:06 AM PDT
Ina, can you clarify if this technology stabilizes the image/photo during capture or can it be applied to any image, say one that was scanned from an analog camera?

If it's the latter, then a3th3r and BillPSudios are correct, the images above does not prove anything.

If it's the former, how is it different from technologies already built-in on today's cameras? (maybe this technology is successful - all the time?)
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About Beyond Binary

During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft.


Beyond Binary is a look at how technology is changing our lives and the people behind all that life-changing stuff, with an extra emphasis on that which emanates from Redmond, Wash.

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