3d illusion arts: Walyou

Walyou

New Curved Lens From Sony Could Be The Future Of Imaging
InkCase Plus: A modular e-ink screen for Android
Microsoft’s Smartwatch Could Look Stunning On Our Wrists In Q4
SoundSight HD Heapdhones Record Everything that’s Happening Around You
Google’s Project Zero Looks for Faults in Third-Party Software

New Curved Lens From Sony Could Be The Future Of Imaging

Posted: 16 Jul 2014 07:00 AM PDT

Many different manufacturers are creating new and unique camera technology, but the newest Sony technology mimics the shape of the human eye.

The growing popularity of digital photography, especially smartphone photography, has lead to many technological improvements when it comes to imaging devices. Many improvements are software related, such as improved filtering or image processing (some manufacturers, such as HTC, even have a dedicated image processing chip), but others are hardware, such as Optical Image Stabilization and HTC’s Ultra-Pixels.

A new curved sensor from Sony sets out to offset the “Petzval field curvature,” which is a performance issue with flat image sensors preventing an image from being brought into proper focus (check Wikipedia for a more technical description). There is existing equipment in most lenses that compensates for this, but it adds to the expense and size of the module.

Sony’s curved lens answers many of these questions, although it still has more improvements necessary before it is ready for wide usage. The sensor is currently 2/3rds of an inch long, making it much too large to use in the average smartphone, although it’s only a matter of time before the technology is miniaturized.

The act of bending the edges of the sensor actually has many benefits. First, it holds a much stronger resemblance to the construction of the human eye, which is a fairly efficient optical construction. The act of bending the sensor also strains the photodiodes, which results in decreased image noise, while also assisting in the reduction of necessary hardware in the sensor.

Initially, Sony’s curved sensor will only be able to be used in low to mid range digital cameras, but it’s only a matter of time before it will be able to be used in smartphone camera modules, which is where the real benefit is. Larger cameras can afford the extra hardware necessary for a flat sensor, but for smartphones, millimeters are valuable.

Although some camera phones, such as the Nokia Lumia 1020 have very large sensors in place already, the curved lens also sounds very similar to the large megapixels (aka ultra-pixels) of the cameras on HTC’s One line. It also might be exclusive to Sony’s devices, since it is their sensor.

Whatever phone it’s in, it’ll b a huge development. Just one more thing to look forward to in future phones!

Source: Engadget

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter

InkCase Plus: A modular e-ink screen for Android

Posted: 16 Jul 2014 06:00 AM PDT

Google offers several books users can buy, access and read on Android devices, but the real question is “would you want to”? And the surprising answer is “yes, yes indeed”.

Reading eBooks on a high-end phone, while handy and practical, does take a toll on both users and phone. First of all, it consumes battery like crazy, but second and more important, it’s not really optimal to be staring at a lit screen while indulging in the pleasure of reading. That is why OAXIS are working on this E-Ink screen case deemed InkCase Plus, compatible with Android devices. The InkCase Plus is a modular e-Ink screen that attaches to your phone, and can run apps and display text without emitting light, just like a Kindle would.

InkCase Plus is currently not for sale, but its well underways and doing a fantastic campaign over at Kickstarter, where users get to crowd fund it and make it happen. As the creators explain, the biggest virtue of the InkCase comes when thinking about the energy it saves: "most of the text in emails, messages and news is in black and white. Therefore, we don't need to turn on the power hungry colour LCD display. Turning on the phone's main LCD generally consumes up to 50% of the smartphone battery during reading.” Lots of users could potentially benefit with this method for saving energy, whether they are reading eBooks or not. Check the video below the jump to learn more.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at SoundSight HD Heapdhones Record Everything that's Happening Around You and Crowdfunded Coolest Cooler Redefines Portable Refrigeration.

Microsoft’s Smartwatch Could Look Stunning On Our Wrists In Q4

Posted: 16 Jul 2014 05:00 AM PDT

Looking to rival an Apple device once more, Microsoft's smartwatch device could launch sometime during Q4 of 2014.

First thing's first, Microsoft aren't calling their wearable, wrist-positioned device a 'smartwatch'. It beats me why but that's their story and they're sticking to it. Instead, Microsoft totally-not-a-smartwatch gadget will be a highly compatible wearable that looks sleek and sophisticated on our wrists as it connects up with almost all of our gadgets. Compatibility is probably a huge feature (and could be its headline offering) as there just aren't enough Windows Phones for Microsoft non-smartwatch to be exclusively compatible as Windows Phones take up less than 10% of the mobile market whereas Apple and Google's iOS and Android operating systems are responsible for 20% and 60% of the market, respectively.

But how else can Microsoft’s device go up against the rumoured Apple iWatch and Samsung's Galaxy Gear Fit smartwatch? The report from the generally reliable insider Paul Thurrott suggests that actually, Microsoft's device doesn't really have a whole lot of 'uniqueness' to offer us. Rumoured features suggest that Microsoft's upcoming wearable will let us see notifications from a connected smartphone as well as sensors that track heart rate and steps, in case consumers were really at a loss for fitness providing gadgets that amongst iOS8-running Apple devices or any of Samsung's Galaxy line.

Microsoft won't have long to turn things around either as Thurrott also explains that the device could launch sometime in Q4, in time for the holiday sales rush as well as the mad dash for lifestyle improving products that always happens in the New Year, because losing the turkey gut we all develop over the holidays is no easy feat. That's the same time period that the iWatch is rumoured to launch in too which means the pressure is at boiling point for Microsoft to work something out, but as ever we'll keep you posted once we know more.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories, Microsoft Wants to Take the Mobile World by Surprise by Adding Folders to WP8.1, Microsoft's Smartwatch Will Also Work with iPhones and Android Devices

SoundSight HD Heapdhones Record Everything that’s Happening Around You

Posted: 15 Jul 2014 01:57 PM PDT

Thinking that headphones are meant exclusively for music playback is a misconception. That’s what the team that developed the SoundSight HD headphones wants to teach us.

These headphones can play sound just like any of its counterparts. Yet, it has some added functionality that’s hinted at in the very name of the product. More precisely, these headphones are capable of recording sound, and even video in full HD resolution at 30 fps, and in HD resolution at 60 fps.

In a press release, the creators of the SoundSight HD headphones unveiled some details about the product:

“Designed by Stephen Chase, WoodenShark & Idem Finland Oy (Winner of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2014). Soundsight is the world’s best smart headphones, giving users an unparalleled experience through wearable technology by combining sound, visuals and your senses through a headphone system for the first time.

The image quality, dynamic range, color depth and raw ability of Soundsight Headphones patent pending technology make the product an ideal device for organically capturing point of view motion pictures.”

The developers are anything but humble when describing their product, and even claim that it’s the world’s best smart headphones. Had they not included the word “smart,” I would’ve seriously doubted that claim, but in this situation, they might as well be right.

SoundSight HD headphones are smart in that they connect wirelessly via Bluetooth 4.0 LE to iOS or Android devices.

The SoundSight HD headphones are currently available for pre-order on the team’s website, and for $349 they can be yours. Would you pay this much for an all-in-one device? Do you think the price is too steep for the added functionality? Let me know your opinion in the comments section below.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Earin earphones that ditch the cord and go completely wireless, and the Split standalone PMP that is completely hands-free.

Google’s Project Zero Looks for Faults in Third-Party Software

Posted: 15 Jul 2014 01:25 PM PDT

Project Zero is an internal team of security specialists that will hunt down any bugs in third-party software, in order to alert antivirus developers. Of course, the search giant could as well exploit the vulnerabilities it finds, but instead it stays true to its “Don’t be evil” motto.

Obviously, the main goal of Google is to prevent such incidents as this year’s Heartbleed, a bug that affected quite a few websites. This is how the search giant explains the need for Project Zero: “Security is a top priority for Google. We’ve invested a lot in making our products secure, including strong SSL encryption by default for Search, Gmail and Drive, as well as encrypting data moving between our data centers. Beyond securing our own products, interested Googlers also spend some of their time on research that makes the Internet safer, leading to the discovery of bugs like Heartbleed.”

The best thing about Project Zero is that security specialists who are not part of the team will be able to consult the findings by checking an external database. First of all, this will help web app developers, but desktop and mobile app makers could also get some help in finding the vulnerabilities of their software.

According to a blog post written by Chris Evans, Research Herder, “We commit to doing our work transparently. Every bug we discover will be filed in an external database. We will only report bugs to the software’s vendor—and no third parties. Once the bug report becomes public (typically once a patch is available), you’ll be able to monitor vendor time-to-fix performance, see any discussion about exploitability, and view historical exploits and crash traces. We also commit to sending bug reports to vendors in as close to real-time as possible, and to working with them to get fixes to users in a reasonable time.”

The team behind Project Zero also made public the fact that it’s looking for other security specialists: “We’re hiring. We believe that most security researchers do what they do because they love what they do. What we offer that we think is new is a place to do what you love—but in the open and without distraction. We’ll also be looking at ways to involve the wider community, such as extensions of our popular reward initiatives and guest blog posts. As we find things that are particularly interesting, we’ll discuss them on this blog, which we hope you’ll follow.”

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Sentri, a device that takes home security to the next level, and the eBay security hack.