Sunday, October 28, 2007

InformIT: A Brief History of Programming, Part 1 > Its All Bits and Bytes

InformIT: A Brief History of Programming, Part 1 > Its All Bits and Bytes

In part 1 of his series on the history of programming, David Chisnall takes a look at some of the developments of the last few decades that have created the current crop of languages and discusses where they came from.

handheld projection augmented reality project

handheld projection augmented reality project

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Slashdot | ECA Plans Games-Related DMCA Showdown

Slashdot | ECA Plans Games-Related DMCA Showdown

Posted by Zonk on Friday October 26, @05:31PM
from the showdown-on-the-console-floor dept.
Gamespot is reporting that the Electronic Consumers Association (ECA) has picked its first legal fight since vowing to step up lobbying efforts. The organization is going head-to-head with the Electronic Software Association (ESA), a long-time backer of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), by coming out in favor of H.R. 1201 (also known as the Fair Use Act of 2007). "If it became law, the Fair Use Act would create a variety of exemptions to the DMCA's prohibitions on circumventing anti-piracy measures. The Fair Use Act would make it legal to bypass anti-piracy measures in a handful of situations, for personal archiving; for researching, critiquing, or reporting on works of substantial public interest (if that is the sole reason for the circumvention); or to skip commercial or personally objectionable content. It would also create an exemption in copyright law for people who make and distribute equipment used to bypass copyright protection (like modchips), provided the device 'is capable of substantial, commercially significant non-infringing use.'"

Military Sim Almost Brings Halo 3 To Reality: Military VR Simulator Is Closest Thing Ever to Real-Life Halo 3

Military Sim Almost Brings Halo 3 To Reality: Military VR Simulator Is Closest Thing Ever to Real-Life Halo 3
Video

Friday, October 26, 2007

Home & Home Office: WVC200 Wireless-G PTZ Internet Video Camera with Audio

Home & Home Office: WVC200 Wireless-G PTZ Internet Video Camera with Audio

Product Details




Overview

Keep tab on your world with the WVC200 Wireless-G PTZ (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) Internet Video Camera from Linksys®. It produces high-quality video stream with a maximum resolutions of 640x480 pixels and a high frame rate, utilizing MPEG-4 video compression. Using its built-in Web server, this camera can directly connect to the network either over Wireless-G (802.11g) to deliver live video and audio through the Internet to a Web browser anywhere in the world. The Pan/Tilt and digital zoom function allows you to remotely control the camera movement and focus, giving you optimum flexibility. With support for 64/128-bit WEP and WPA encryption, this Internet camera secures your wireless communications and virtually eliminates eavesdropping. The incorporated Security Mode tells the camera to send a message with a short video attached to up to three email addresses whenever it detects motion in its field of view. You can then log on to the live video stream if the situation warrants. Featuring a stylish wireless design, the Wireless-G PTZ Internet Video Camera includes software for monitoring and recording up to 9 cameras simultaneously.

HUE HD White PC / Mac Webcam from Clique

HUE HD White PC / Mac Webcam from Clique


HUE HD White PC / Mac Webcam from Clique Description:
Whether you're connecting with family & friends or updating your weekly vlog, HUE is a simple and vibrant way to express yourself. HUE comes in an array of colors to match any personality and taste, while maintaining exceptional video quality and superior sound with its 1.3 MPX sensor, built-in microphone and noise reduction technology. With HUE's one-touch snapshot button, digital photography becomes effortless. Integrating state-of-the-art technology with intelligent design put HU ... Read More

 HUE HD White PC / Mac Webcam from Clique
 Click to enlarge

Price is subject to change daily.
List Price: $99.99
Our Price: $79.19
You Save: 20.8%


Thursday, October 25, 2007

Axis210 Network Camera

Axis210 Network Camera

AXIS 210 and Axis210A IP Camera
Network Attached Camera

From

More Axis IP Cameras | Camera System Overview | Surveillance Software | Network Attached Camera systems | Network Attached Video Storage | Contact us


Axis 210
$409

Includes 4mm lens for indoor use and power adapter

AXIS 210 Network Camera provides superior video quality for professional indoor applications.

The Axis 210A adds integrated two-way audio and Power over Ethernet capability.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Flickr Tools on Flickrbits » The definitive collection of Flickr tools, plugins and API applications

Flickr Tools on Flickrbits » The definitive collection of Flickr tools, plugins and API applications: "Flickr Bits and Pieces. Please let us know if you have created a tool, plugin or app based on the Flickr API and you would like us to include it here. I now have a total of 132 applications and plugins in the database, all of which utilise the Flickr API in some way. You can read more about the API here."

» The Semantic wedge: Freebase, Powerset and Twine | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

» The Semantic wedge: Freebase, Powerset and Twine | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com:

"Spivack gave the first public preview of Twine (I posted about it here). Twine is about knowledge networking, rather than social networking, Spivack said. “The semantic graph is a superset of the social graph.” Rather than just relationships, Twine makes connections between everything based on underlying semantic Web technologies. Twine is currently in the invite-only beta phase."

Dash: peer computing in the car

Dash now plans to ship its GPS product for cars, the Dash Express, in early 2008. Its key differentiator from other GPS units is that it will always be connected to the Internet, which will enable cool features like peer-to-peer (with other Dash devices) traffic reporting, and the capability to program routes on to your device from your Web browser.

Dash Express

(Credit: Dash Navigation)

The new news is that the Dash will have an open platform, so people can build interesting apps for it. The Dash team will demo the platform with its own apps, including one that links into a Zillow API, presumably so you can drive down the street and see on your device just how much the houses you're passing by are worth (see also: Realius).

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

La Soci�t�des arts technologiques [SAT] Society for Arts and Technology

La Societe des arts technologiques [SAT] Society for Arts and Technology


Sunday, October 14, 2007

VIDVOX

VIDVOX

This is a mind-blower

Try it out now for free. In demo mode the beta is fully functional, only saving has been disabled. Click here to download the public beta.
VDMX5 for MacOS X

Quartonian: live performance with Quartz Composer � Quartonian Mixer

Quartonian: live performance with Quartz Composer � Quartonian Mixer

Quartonian was the first mac os x vj mixer to fully use the power of core image tech that Apple introduced in Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). To this day Quartonian is still the fastest VJ mixer available for Mac OS X, mixing 720p or even 1080i HD video is possible on a Mac Book Pro. It is also the most flexible and customisable vj mixer available. Because it is written using Quartz Composer and the full composition is available you can rip it apart and build your own fx chains, your own screen layouts or even build a custom mixer to suit a large multiscreen installation or custom shaped screens. Eg see the screen shot below for an example hex layout for hexagonal screen clusters.

It’s fast and easy to adapt Quartonian to any custom screen layout, even multi screen layouts. This is difficult or impossible with most VJ programs.

List of VJ software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of VJ software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mac 101: Audio Attachments

Mac 101: Audio Attachments

Guitars, basses, microphones, keyboards, digital music players, home stereos, and speakers—these are just a few of the devices that you can connect to your Mac. Whether you're a musician or a music fan, here's how to connect some audio and music devices to your Mac, and how to set them up for use.

Attaching an Audio Interface

If you want to record instruments on your Mac, using USB or FireWire audio interface devices is the easiest and fastest way to get started! A variety of products are available to hook up your music gear, such as XLR, 1/4 inch phono, RCA jacks, and MIDI.

This USB controller (the M-Audio Ozone) features a built-in audio interface,
and supports a wide range of connectors.

For the serious musician, check out the USB and FireWire audio interface devices from M-Audio, Edirol, MOTU, and Digidesign. If you're more of a hobbyist, Griffin Technology and M-Audio have audio interfaces that are affordable, Griffin even has a few that connect to your computer's audio input port—if your Mac has one).

Once you've got an audio interface device, here's how to connect it to your Mac and set it up for use.

  1. Follow the setup instructions that came with your audio interface device and install the software drivers first.
  2. If you have a USB audio interface, connect it to a USB port on your computer, using the cable that came with your device. If you have a FireWire audio interface, attach it to your computer's FireWire port, using the appropriate FireWire cable.
  3. Turn on your audio interface, if it needs to be powered.
  4. To make your Mac use your interface as its audio input, open System Preferences from the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
  5. Click Sound to display the Sound preferences pane.
  6. Click the Input tab.
  7. Click your audio interface in the list to select it for use. Note: Don't see your interface in the list? Be sure that you've installed the driver.


M-Audio Store

M-Audio Store
$499.95

The FireWire 18/14 is an 18-in, 14-out audio interface complete with ADAT Lightpipe for multi-channel communication with other digital devices. It features 8 x 4 analog I/O at up to 24-bit/96kHz, and boasts 192kHz on the first two inputs and all four outputs. Channels 1 and 2 also include high-quality microphone/instrument preamps. S/PDIF optical digital I/O provides 2-channel PCM, as well as pass-through of surround-encoded AC-3 and DTS material. Flexible internal mixing allows input and output routing, including an aux bus for effects send or monitor mix. A front-panel momentary switch allows DJ-style headphone auditioning between two assignable sources. Other features include two headphone amplifiers, assignable level controller, S/PDIF coaxial/optical digital I/O, 1 x 1 MIDI I/O, and BNC word clock connectors for synchronization to other digital devices.


FireWire 410

$299.95

FireWire 410 is a FireWire-compatible audio/MIDI interface that has it all—power, flexibility, compact size and low price. FireWire 410’s 4-in/10-out configuration complete with preamps is perfect for personal recording, routing discrete outputs to a mixer, or directly driving a surround sound system. The on-board ASIO 2-compliant mixer and software control panel provide total routing flexibility—including monitoring with external effects. You also get ultra-low latency software monitoring and near-zero latency hardware direct monitoring—and two headphone outs with independent level controls let you collaborate with a partner anywhere, anytime. FireWire 410 can even be completely bus-powered for total mobile operation (6-pin FireWire port required)


$199.95

The Fast Track Pro delivers all the mobile recording flexibility of the Fast Track USB, plus even more professional features. You get 2 front-panel mic/line inputs complete with phantom power for condenser microphones, inserts for outboard effects balanced and unbalanced analog outputs, S/PDIF digital I/O, MIDI I/O, and more. Fast Track Pro also features near-zero latency direct hardware monitoring and low-latency ASIO software monitoring, plus an A/B source switch and dual output pairs for DJ-style cueing. Fast Track Pro is compatible with most popular PC and Mac music software. USB connection and bus power along with class compliancy for Mac OS X* make it a breeze to set up. * Class compliancy supports 16-bit/48kHz 2 x 4 operation on OS X 10.3.9 and higher. Driver installation required to access more I/O.



































Griffin Technology: FireWave - Surround Sound for Mac

Griffin Technology: FireWave - Surround Sound for Mac
$99FireWave - Surround Sound for Mac

FireWave Q & A

What is the port configuration?
FireWave outputs six channel audio through three 1/8” (3.5mm) stereo mini-jacks: Left/Right, Center/Subwoofer and Right Surround/Left Surround. FireWave also includes a FireWire 400 passthrough for connecting external devices like hard drives or iPods.

Does the FireWave feature digital coax or optical outputs?
No.

What audio formats are supported by FireWave?
FireWave supports Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic II in addition to routing any configuration of up to six discrete audio channels, such as quad and hex arrangements.

What type of amplifier does FireWave use?
FireWave is not an amplifier and only supplies line level output. It is designed to be connected to self-powered multichannel speakers or to an amplifier/receiver with discrete inputs.

Is it suitable for four-channel output?
Absolutely! Practically any number and/or arrangement of speakers (up to 6 channels) can be designated in Mac OS X's Audio MIDI Setup utility.

YouTube - LucidTouch - a see-through mobile device

YouTube - LucidTouch - a see-through mobile device


Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories - Make a Video Feedback Screen Saver in Quartz Composer

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories - Make a Video Feedback Screen Saver in Quartz Composer

Make a Video Feedback Screen Saver in Quartz Composer

Quartz Composer is an easy to use tool that lets you create amazing digital art, even interactive digital art, without writing a single line of code. You might already have it: Quartz Composer is included as part of developer tools package (Xcode) that comes with Mac OS 10.4 Tiger. In this tutorial, I'll show how to get started with Quartz Composer. No prior programming experience is required. As an example, we'll build a video feedback screen saver that can take input from an iSight camera.

Video Streamer

Video Streamer

What would it be like to navigate immersively within this time cube?


What does time look like?

This web site is about seeing time. From this site you can experiment with the Video Streamer, a tool for exploring time and motion in video.

Sometimes the edges of pictures are more interesting than their middles. The Video Streamer tips video on its side to look at its edges, revealing flowing images of time. The Streamer stretches time into gooey imagery that suggests alternatives to the usual timeline way of working with video.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Croquet 2 Play � Intel and Qwaq Announce New Croquet Technology

Croquet 2 Play � Intel and Qwaq Announce New Croquet Technology

Intel and Qwaq Announce New Croquet Technology

After indicating just how serious they were about leveraging Croquet by joining the Croquet Consortium, Intel takes another more tangible step:

Miramar, a 3-D information space technology originally developed by Intel Corporation’s research labs, will be brought to market by Qwaq Inc., the secure virtual workspace company.

The agreement between the companies announced today at the Intel Developer Forum enables a new desktop visualization edition of Qwaq Forums that will integrate 2-D desktop applications and shared 3-D information workspaces for large numbers of users to easily visualize and manipulate enterprise information. Qwaq and Intel plan to work together to integrate Miramar technology into this new cross-platform edition of Qwaq Forums, which is expected be available next year.

… Originally developed by Intel Architecture Labs, Miramar was designed to increase the productivity of distributed enterprises by enabling new information visualization capabilities across distributed teams. The Miramar technology leverages immersive 3-D environments and enables users to transition seamlessly among virtual environments and traditional 2-D desktop applications.

Qwaq Press Release

A demo of Miramar was done during a keynote by Intel’s by Justin Rattner at the Intel’s Developer Forum today. The presentation is entitled Virtual Worlds – The Rise of the 3D Internet and should be available shortly.

Update: The webcast on Intel’s site seems to only work with IE 6 but there’s a link to the video on David Smith’s site and the slides are also available. However, it really is worthwhile to find an IE6 machine to see them together on.


Thursday, October 04, 2007

DisplayLink > Products > Sample Applications

DisplayLink > Products > Sample Applications

DisplayLink Customer Support Login
DisplayLink Homepage About DisplayLink News from DisplayLink DisplayLink Products Careers at DisplayLink Contact DisplayLink
Products

DisplayLink solves the problem of adding extra displays to a computer without the hassle and cost of adding additional graphics cards.

By reducing the connection process to standard wired and wireless interfaces, DisplayLink enables an inexpensive and simple solution to clone or extend a desktop onto another display.

DisplayLink technology can be integrated into several potential applications, wherever a display is required over a standard wired or wireless interface at a low cost, including:

Wireless monitors and projectors
Wireless digital picture frames
USB 2.0 monitors and projectors
USB 2.0 to VGA/DVI dongles
Universal USB 2.0 notebook docks with VGA/DVI
Ethernet-based thin clients
External displays through USB 2.0 and Wireless

To find out more, click the above links.

Wireless monitors and projectors

Enable connections to a monitor or projector through WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n)
Connect to a meeting room projector quickly and without any wires
Clear the cable clutter with a wireless monitor
Use interfaces already built in to Windows XP
Mirror or extend a computer display workspace