FocuSoft Tech Blog

Stanford’s open-source camera could revolutionize photography, you’ll still use ‘Auto’ mode
Fujitsu’s multitouch LIFEBOOK T4310 tablet makes quick work of Microsoft’s Touch Pack
Laptops… in space!
Siemens discControl Stove Top System Is Ingeniously Childproof [Cooking]
Samsung’s LED TV Couple packs a 7-inch tablet remote for streaming TV and so much more
Blizzard has defeated the Door Boss!
T-Shirt Shows Exactly Who You Really Are [Science]
NTT DoCoMo might just enter the US cellphone market, MVNO graveyard wishes it luck
It’s Official: Chinese Farmers Can Build Anything, Rarely Farm [DIY]
Samsung’s NX camera due for late 2009 or early 2010, uses proprietary lens system

Stanford’s open-source camera could revolutionize photography, you’ll still use ‘Auto’ mode

Posted: 06 Sep 2009 11:10 AM PDT

Here’s the moment where you pretend that a breakthrough in a given industry would just revolutionize the way you do work, yet you know — deep down in your heart — that you’d never take advantage. Okay, so maybe you would, but your friend wouldn’t. At any rate, a gaggle of boffins at Stanford have set out to “reinvent digital photography” with the advent of the open-source digital camera. The idea here is to give programmers the power to conjure up new software to teach old cameras new tricks, with the hope being to eliminate software limits that currently exist. In fact, a prototype shooter has already been developed, with the Frankencamera hinting at a future where owners can download apps to their devices and continuously improve its performance and add to its abilities. The actual science behind the concept is stupendously in-depth, so if you’re thinking of holding off on that new Nikon or Canon in 2034, you might want to give the read link a look for a little more encouragement.

[Via HotHardware]

Continue reading Stanford’s open-source camera could revolutionize photography, you’ll still use ‘Auto’ mode

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Stanford’s open-source camera could revolutionize photography, you’ll still use ‘Auto’ mode originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Fujitsu’s multitouch LIFEBOOK T4310 tablet makes quick work of Microsoft’s Touch Pack

Posted: 06 Sep 2009 10:04 AM PDT

If Fujitsu was going for sexy, it certainly missed the mark with the LIFEBOOK T4310, one of the least attractive machines of its kind, but where the T4310 tablet falls short on style, it certainly makes up for with its excellent multitouch-friendly capacitive touchscreen. Playing with Windows 7’s new touch features, it almost seems feasible to use the OS with a finger (gasp!), and the screen can also accept pen input (based on pressure-sensitive Wacom technology) when your blunt jabs aren’t getting the job done. The multitouch prowess is most evident using Microsoft’s Surface-inspired Touch Pack applications, which come pre-installed, but it’s also a nice way to get around in Internet Explorer. Other perks of the machine include a 360-degree rotating hinge, a hot-swappable drive bay, and all the internal accouterments (SSD, 3G) one could ask for. Video demo is after the break.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Continue reading Fujitsu’s multitouch LIFEBOOK T4310 tablet makes quick work of Microsoft’s Touch Pack

Fujitsu’s multitouch LIFEBOOK T4310 tablet makes quick work of Microsoft’s Touch Pack originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Laptops… in space!

Posted: 06 Sep 2009 10:00 AM PDT

laptopsinspace

It’s laptops in space, people! What is there not to like?

That pic comes from this video, showing the STS-128 mission in action.

Read the rest here:
Laptops… in space!

Siemens discControl Stove Top System Is Ingeniously Childproof [Cooking]

Posted: 06 Sep 2009 10:00 AM PDT

Siemens discControl nobs are perfect for the iPod generation in that they’re completely touch based sliders, as the product’s name suggests. But beyond that they hide a very cool, very safe little feature for households with small children.

The childproofing is really pretty simple: When you’re done cooking, or when the stove top is not in use, simply remove the magnetic discs from their holders and the unit is effectively impossible to turn on. Presto change-o, no toddlers running around your kitchen screaming to child services that they have third degree burns on their hands and arms.

And as the picture implies this is an induction unit that’s the perfect fit for your eclectic collection of cut in half skillets and other cookware. [Press Release via Born RIch]

Siemens discControl Stove Top System Is Ingeniously Childproof [Cooking]

Read the rest here:
Siemens discControl Stove Top System Is Ingeniously Childproof [Cooking]

Samsung’s LED TV Couple packs a 7-inch tablet remote for streaming TV and so much more

Posted: 06 Sep 2009 09:07 AM PDT

Without much fanfare, Samsung has released a TV / tablet combo in Korea that seems to deliver on all the untapped promise in Toshiba’s JournE touch tablet. Dubbed the LED TV Couple, Samsung has paired a 55-inch LED baclkit LCD TV with a brand new 7-inch touchscreen tablet, which communicates with and controls a full home theater over 802.11n WiFi. The tablet offers a visual program guide, including video previews of TV shows, along with access to media stored on a PC — which can in turn be “tossed” up to the full TV — and even a few widgets. But the real money is in the pair’s ability to stream live TV and Blu-ray content from the home theater to the tablet, making that next trip to the kitchen for munchies so much less painful. No word on a US or Europe release, but we hope to see a lot more of this pair in the near future. Peep them in action after the break.

Gallery: Samsung’s LED TV Couple

Continue reading Samsung’s LED TV Couple packs a 7-inch tablet remote for streaming TV and so much more

Samsung’s LED TV Couple packs a 7-inch tablet remote for streaming TV and so much more originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Sep 2009 11:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Blizzard has defeated the Door Boss!

Posted: 06 Sep 2009 09:06 AM PDT

07b29cc402fixed.jpg Blizzard has defeated the Door Boss!

Good news, everyone. It looks like Blizzard has finally defeated the Door Boss. That is, you should no longer, or not as frequently, run into the "additional instances cannot be launched" glitch. It truly is a time for celebration.

You’ll recall that, last Tuesday, there was an awful lot of server downtime, certainly more than one would expect on a Tuesday. (Tuesday, for the non-World of Warcraft players in the house, is set aside for regularly scheduled maintenance. Servers are typically down all morning.) You could go so far as to say it ruined my life! Well, it was during that extra long, extra tortuous downtime that Blizzard put a series of buffs on its equipment. The resulting buffs—upgrades. I’m trying to be cute here—have made it so that we can actually run instances. Rejoice!

This was a big problem on Aggramar last week. You try to run SFK or WC or whatever (my latest character is still only level 28) and you’d run into that dreaded, "cannot launch any more instances" glitch. So you’d stand there for many, many minutes, running in and out of the door, trying to launch the instance. It wasn’t fun, no.

So, with the servers upgraded, have we seen any results? I know I was able to enter Gnomer last night no problem, which is one tally in the anecdotal evidence column!

T-Shirt Shows Exactly Who You Really Are [Science]

Posted: 06 Sep 2009 09:00 AM PDT

I know this girl who is made of sugar, spice, and everything nice. But the rest of us are made out of things like oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, potassium, sulfur, chlorine, germanium, cobalt, arsenic, antimony, tellurium, yttrium, or scandium. Not kidding.

There seems to be a temporal problem with the image server. click here to see the t-shirt.

I’m so getting this human ingredients t-shirt. Or, as I call it, the reality check t-shirt: Yes, my friends, we were only stellar dust, and stellar dust we will be. Hopefully after I eat my Sunday brunch pancakes. [Mysoti via Geekologie]

T Shirt Shows Exactly Who You Really Are [Science]

Excerpt from:
T-Shirt Shows Exactly Who You Really Are [Science]

NTT DoCoMo might just enter the US cellphone market, MVNO graveyard wishes it luck

Posted: 06 Sep 2009 08:08 AM PDT

If you’ve paid any attention whatsoever to the goings-on in the American cellphone market, you’d know that ponying up the dough to start an MVNO here is probably not your best shot at striking it rich. One after another has fallen flat, even ones that had millions (and millions) in marketing dollars behind ‘em. That said, Japan’s own NTT DoCoMo is mulling the possibility of fully entering the US cell market next year, offering up smartphones and “other high-performance handsets with its i-mode mobile internet service.” We’re told that the operator may start as an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), leasing capacity from T-Mobile USA or AT&T until it decides on its next move. Call us crazy, but we’re guessing it just might have a shot here on US soil if it snags the iPhone, enables all those 3G services that have been running for years on other platforms and only charges one (as opposed to three or four) human limbs for a monthly plan.

[Thanks, shinbunboi]

Filed under: Cellphones

NTT DoCoMo might just enter the US cellphone market, MVNO graveyard wishes it luck originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

It’s Official: Chinese Farmers Can Build Anything, Rarely Farm [DIY]

Posted: 06 Sep 2009 08:00 AM PDT

What is it with everyday Chinese folks building extraordinary things? Last month farmer Wu Zhongyuan built a helicopter from wood and metal. This month Tao Xiangl is scooting around the waters near Beijing in a hand-built submarine.

Meanwhile, I just created charcoal while trying to make a bagel.

The rig cost Tao 30,000 yuan ($4,385) and two years to build, and includes a periscope and depth control tank. No mention of a sonar system, but knowing the Chinese farmers these days that DIY achievement has to be just a matter of time. [China Daily via Gizmo Watch via DVICE]

Its Official: Chinese Farmers Can Build Anything, Rarely Farm [DIY]

See the original post:
It’s Official: Chinese Farmers Can Build Anything, Rarely Farm [DIY]

Samsung’s NX camera due for late 2009 or early 2010, uses proprietary lens system

Posted: 06 Sep 2009 07:09 AM PDT

Samsung has teased us like this before, stuffing the NX body under glass at tradeshows, letting it sit there being all DSLR-ey, but more details are beginning to trickle out about the camera here at IFA. As reported by PhotographyBLOG and confirmed to us on the show floor by Samsung, the camera is due to be launched by the end of the year or early next year. Like has been said before, the camera has an interchangeable lens systems, but Samsung also informed us specifically that the lenses will not be interoperable with other camera systems. In a way it makes sense, because the camera is much larger than a micro four thirds camera, but different in build than a regular DSLR — though it houses a regular APS-C sensor. Still, it’s a hassle, and we’ll have to see if the blend of electronic viewfinder and regular-sized sensor offer a compelling enough alternative to embark upon a whole new lens system adventure.

Gallery: Samsung’s NX behind glass