More innovation from Japan

The Japanese government will be starting a joint project with some Japanese companies to develop a successor to HDTV.

The plan is to make "Super Hi-Vision" be available in 2015 - and it will also be promoted as a new international standard. The new standard brings a breathtaking 33 million pixels - more than sixteen times the resolution of 1080p.

Obviously these displays would also work extremely well as computer displays - once graphics cards are built that can drive them... quad dual-link DVI's anyone?

Let's see...

33Mpix * 3 bytes per pixel = 100MB/frame

60hz * 100MB/frame = 6,000MB/sec

GULP.

That's 6GB/sec for uncompressed video at 60HZ!

Hmm... we need fatter pipes. Even with MPEG4 we'd likely need 50-100Mbps for excellent quality.

 

University of Toronto is working on a flexible full color display technology

Could this be the e-paper of the future?

Andre Arsenault of the University of Toronto told New Scientist about a new display technology being worked on at U of T. The display is made from "photonic crystals" embedded in an electroactive polymer that stretches and contracts in response to electric signals. The signals changes the spacing between the tiny crystals, which causes them to reflect at different light frequencies - not only all visible frequencies, but also infra red and ultra violet.

Since the light is reflected, there is no backlight, and due to the nature of the crystals, no color filters are needed either - so the display can be extremely thin and flexible. The problem now is to scale up the technology to make multi-megapixel displays.

 

Pause the movie! I got an incoming call...

Engineers at Washington based Microvision are not content with today's cellphones. Sure, today's cellphones can play music, take pictures, have silly ring tunes, vibrate, bleep, change color, convert currencies, connect to the Internet, screen calls, wake you up in the morning, organize your social life, send text messages, run video games, and make phone calls -- but  why can't phones project images? Soon, with Microvision's PicoP projector, you'll be able to. 

The PicoP is a mini-projector that can be integrated into a cellphone. The PicoP uses a teeny-tiny silicon mirror to time-modulated laser light. This light can be directed right into your eyeball at close range, or, in the case of the PicoP, can shoot out of your cellphone and on to a surface to display an image. The projection quality is purportedly good enough to watch a DVD movie with: the PicoP will fire out a 20 lumens SVGA 854x480 image. 

Today it is being reported that Microvision has come to a business arrangement with Motorola. They are going to tag-team up to build a first prototype of a cellphone / projector combo, in order to better measure its swankiness. Presumably, if the prototype turns out okay, before not too long these things could be hitting the shelves. 

We had Neoseeker's in-house artist Photoshop us up a conception-image of what this working device might look like. That guy is Alexander Trokman, President and CEO of Microvision.     

 

Newsbytes from around the world

PVI supplied the e-paper display on the outside of Intel's Metro notebook - the idea is that the outside of a closed notebook can still show important notifications for calendar, email and instant messages. Frankly, that's a great idea!

AMD's Hector Ruiz was in for a rough ride at a shareholders meeting, but promised a "tsunami" of products over the next twelve months, and has also stated that AMD will be introducing 45nm chips in mid-2008

Intel will still roll out 45nm parts before AMD, however unlike past geometry transitions, AMD will be nipping on Intel's heels - or at least that's AMD's plan.

Laptops could start running Compact Flash Hard Drives, neato!

I should get a laptop soon. I mean, there's the consideration of PC versus Mac, but that added consideration of the power consumption. And the biggest power sap in laptops is the 2.5" hard drive. That spinning spindle and twitching aperture arm draw a lot of juice. What if we could start using solid state storage on mobile computers.

Addonics Technologies is hoping just that with their latest range of CF (Compact Flash) Hard Drive Adapters. This little adapter will allow any laptop or note book computer (I wonder if it'll work with a desktop system?) to be converted into a solid state computer. The adapters come in a few flavors while boasting perfect compatibility with Windows, Mac, Linux and Sun Solaris operating systems. And because it's only a hardware bridge (no extra software and or drivers to install, no extra system bloat required), it looks and acts just like a regular IDE or SATA hard drive.

“With these new Addonics adapters any equipment, such as a notebook computer, that uses a 2.5″ IDE or SATA hard drive can be easily converted to use the more reliable CF media. Once installed, the CF card appears as an ordinary hard drive to the system BIOS and operating system and can also be configured as a boot device”. said an Addonics spokesperson said.

The greatest benefit for this being that Compact Flash seek times can put a platter pulsing hard drive to shame. Write times however, can be less than stellar. But this could help develop the portable computing market made make ultra mobile PCs evermore present in the marketplace. The cost is pretty nice too. There is a single slot IDE unit that rings in at about $24.99 USD, and a dual slotter IDE adapter for $29.99. The SATA version only comes in a single slot design and costs $35.99 US. And Compact Flash is getting cheaper by the day, at about $50 bucks for 4 Gigs, if you sniff around a bit.

Hmmm, maybe I could try building a small CF based PC, and just swap out different CF cards for the different OS's I want to run. This ones for Linux, this one for Windows, and this one for BSD. I could have multiple distros configured for different functions. It might make a great web surfing client. And if the install ever gets corrupted or infected, just re-flash from my main rig. Sweet!

Finally we get a useful card (other than network cards) for PCIe 1x slots!

I'm a bit of a home theatre buff, and I like building my own PVR's - so I was especially interested to see Avermedia launch a combined analog / HD tuner for PCIe.

The Avermedia AVerTV Combo is a PCI Express x1 low-profile TV tuner featuring combo high definition and analog TV tuners. Complete with an ATSC and unencrypted "Clear" QAM capable TV tuner, users can watch ATSC TV both over-the-air, or through a standard coaxial cable for unencrypted digital cable content. Featuring a world-wide analog TV tuner with advanced 3D Y/C comb filter with ghost reduction, as well as hardware compression, the AVerTV Combo PCIe enables users to watch/record both analog and high definition TV on their desktop PC using Windows Media Center or AVer MediaCenter Application.

I particularly like that it includes QAM reception capabilities, so you can pull in unencrypted HD channels from your cable system if you don't have over the air HD stations in your area.

The card has an MSRP of $119.99

A new low cost 10.2Mp DSLR from Nikon

Nikon has announced the D40x just before the PMA show - the new D40x comes less than four months after the D40 was announced, however it now features a 10.2 megapixel sensor as well as having an ISO 100 setting for bright outdoor shooting.

The camera will be available as just a body, or as a kit with an 18-55mm AF-S lens.

The D40x features:

• 0.18 second startup time
• fast shutter response
• 10.2 Megapixel CCD
• 3D Color Matrix Metering II
• 3fps continous shooting
• 2.5" LCD display
• 3 area auto focus
• Built-in flash with i-TTL metering
• Eight programmed shooting modes
• in-camera editing (redeye,trimming,bw etc)
• advanced help menu

The camera will sell for $729.95 (body only) or $799.95 (with 18-55DX lens)

arnezami gives single finger salute to DRM

DRM is a pain in the posterior, does not deter pirates, and basically just penalizes consumers.

It is also essentially useless - as was once again demonstrated by arnezami, who found the "processing key" that was used for every existing HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movie. Allowing any of them to be decrypted.

Before anyone says "but the studio's need it to stop piracy" they should remember that commercial pirates will copy the whole disk, bitwise, which copies the DRM'd disk as a whole, totally bypassing the DRM.

NYTimes David Pogue tests if people can tell the difference

You've all seen the adds

'5' Megapixels!

'7' Megapixels!!

'11' Megapixels!!!

Its like the Megahurtz (pun intended) game processor manufacturers used to play.

Does it really make a difference in print?

It can, but a lot of people cannot tell the difference in "normal" viewing conditions; people forget that the quality of the lens, sensor, lighting and composition matter far more than the raw pixel count.

David is right. I'm also a photographer, and for my friends and family, I recommend a nice 5-6mp camera with a good quality lens and the biggest sensor available at their pricepoint - as they normally print 4x6's or at most 8x12's, they will never see the difference.

Kodak is getting into the consumer printer market - in a big way.

What is the #1 complaint people have about inkjet printers?

1. Is it the prrice of the printer?

NO

2. Is it the quality of the prints?

NO

3. Is it the longevity of the prints?

NO

4; Is it the price of ink?

YES

and to a lesser extent, the price of photo paper.

Kodak, who is seeing the squeeze in their film and silver halide printing business, has decided to do something about it.

Given the domination of the inkject printing market by heavyweights such as Canon and Epson, followed by HP, Lexmark, Brother et al, why would people buy the new Kodak printers? I mean, everyone claims long life for thier prints, the printers are all reasonably priced (unless you want to print bigger than 8.5"x11") - so how will they break into the market and get market share?

Simple.

By giving people what they want - at a (more) reasonable price!

Let's take a look at some prices.

Canon 4x6 PhotoPaper Plus, 120 sheet pack $11 at Newegg (MSRP $14)

Canon CLI 8 cartridges: $11.99 each, and you need six, for a full new set.

Now based on my experiences, you can print about 150 4x6's on a canon printer before you run out of PC,PY and PM, and get to half capacity of C&M, and a quarter of B... so 150 4x6's use 3+2x.5+.25 cartridges - that is 4.25 cartridges @ $12 each - or about $51 for ink. Scaled to 120 pages, that's $40.80 for the ink needed to print 120 4x6's.. now add $11 for paper, giving us a cost of $51.80 for 120 4x6's - that's 0.432 per print.

From friends who run Epson printers, I gather their prints cost 1.5x-2x as much once all is said and done, and HP/Lexmark/Brother supposedly end up costing up to $1 per 4x6 print if you are not careful.

Costco prints for around $0.10 per 4x6.

Now Kodak is bringing out a line of Easyshare photo printers priced between $149 and $150, with supplies packaged in a way consumers will easily understand - including the paper and the ink in a handy package, and showing the cost per print right on the package!

The Easyshare 5100 starts at $150, and it is a multi-function unit that can print, scan and copy - and is PictBridge compatible.

The Easyshare 5300 at $250 adds a 3" color display and memory slots, and allows for viewing and cropping on the printer

The Easyshare 5600 at $300 has a 2.4" display, fax support, automated document feeder for the scanner, and a duplexer for double sided printing.

The 180 print "standard" paper+ink package will cost $17.99MSRP, so even if you pay full MSRP, your per print cost will be $0.10

The higher quality paper based package will have 135 sheets of the thicker paper for $19.99, or $0.15 per print.

I am certain Epson, Canon et al are NOT going to be happy about this.

I am equally certain that other manufacturers paper and ink prices will tumble - because if they don't, they will lose market share in a BIG way.

So much for the suspected price collusion between printer manufacturers. All it takes is a new entrant to the market, or one member of a hypothetical cartel to break ranks - and the market will decide. This is how the market is supposed to work.

Now don't take this to mean that the Kodak prints will be sub-standard.

Kodak probably has more experience in making photographic prints than the rest of the printer manufacturers put togeather; and their new printers will use MEMS technology print heads and pigmented inks.

I can't wait to try them.

Speaking as a photographer, you can bet I will be checking out these printers, and the quality of the prints.

Let the ink+paper price wars begin... :-)

 

 

 

SanDisk says it is expecting average sellling prices for NAND flash devices to drop 50% in 2007

This is excellent news for consumers - we will be able to get twice the capacity or more for cameras, thumb drives, MP3 players etc for the same money by the end of the year.

For SanDisk, the drop in prices is not discouraging expansion plans since there is strong demand from applications such as music and video phones, Vista-enable PCs, solid-state drives (SSDs), video imaging and content applications. While preparing to introduce 56nm production at Toshiba's 12-inch fab (Fab 3) at Yokkaichi, Nagoya, Japan later in the first quarter of 2007, SanDisk will boost the monthly capacity at this plant from 90,000 wafers in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 125,000 by end of 2007.

If prices fall further, solid state hard drive replacements for laptop and desktop systems will start to become viable.

 

Sharp introduces portrait 65" monitor

The new PN-655RU monitor is NOT meant for watching HDTV, nor is it meant for use as a regular computer monitor.

With its portrait orientation, it is clearly meant for medical imaging (ie X-ray's, CAT scan's etc) - however no doubt some people will use it for other applications.

The 1920x1080 resolution monitor has a 6ms response time, and a 170 degree viewing angle, and has a brightness of 400 nits.

It's not cheap though.

$29,995

We control the horizontal... We control the vertical... Do not adjust your set...

Are you ready for this? (hoax alert)

According to a news report I just read...

The MPAA does not want to let you show your dvd's to your friends.

Apparently they want to license home theatres; and they want a $50 registration fee, plus technological measures to tell them what you are watching, when etc. Oh - and a home theatre is 29" tv or bigger, stereo, and two or morey comfy chairs or couch. IE basically every living room in North America.

And you have to get their approval before showing the dvd.

Here's a lovely quote:

""Just because you buy a DVD to watch at home doesn't give you the right to invite friends over to watch it too. That's a violation of copyright and denies us the revenue that would be generated from DVD sales to your friends," said Glickman. "Ideally we expect each viewer to have their own copy of the DVD, but we realize that isn't always feasible. The registration fee is a fair compromise"

Hello MPAA - the consumer electronics giants could buy you from pocket change. Are you REALLY sure you want to piss everyone and every company off?

OK, now that I thought about it some more...

I think they are RIGHT!

I mean those poor starving movie studios need our support, otherwise they will no longer be able to afford Porche's, homes in Beverly Hills, etc.

Actually, I don't think they go far enough.

I think we should have to pay them every time we remember something from a particular movie!

And every time we quote a line!

THATS IT!

I mean really, letting friends watch TV at your place is unfair use!

We should all have tiny one person TV cubicles with <29" tv's, with uncomfortable chairs so we have to get up to buy MPAA(tm) approved PopCorn!

Let's also install pay-toilets in our homes and remit the funds... :-)

Nikon introduces its new 10.2MP DSLR for $999

Nikon has announced the new lower priced version of the D200

The new D80 has a 10.2MP APS sized sensor, and has the following features (from Nikon's web site):

	10.2 Megapixel Nikon DX format CCD imaging sensor: Effectively optimized by Nikon to deliver a wide dynamic range, producing outstanding images with high resolution and vivid detail yielding 3,872 x 2,592-pixel files.
	New high-resolution Nikon image-processing engine: New 12- bit Image Processing Engine combines color independent analog pre-conditioning with improved image processing algorithms.
	Instant 0.18 sec. start-up with fast 80ms shutter response.With a power-up time of a mere 0.18 seconds and a shutter release time lag of only 80ms, responsiveness is extraordinary.
	Continuous shooting at up to 3 frames per second and up to 100 consecutive JPEG images: Fast framing rates contribute to the ability to capture moments in time instantly. Sophisticated systems throughout the D80, including high-speed buffer memory handling, fast image processing, high-speed memory card access and large system bus bandwidth help make this possible.
	Up to 2,700 images per battery charge:* High-Efficiency power systems featuring reduced power consumption and Real-Time Fuel Gauge with Nikon's EN-EL3e Lithium Ion rechargeable battery.
	Nikon 3D Color Matrix Metering II, plus Variable Center-Weighted and Spot Metering: Substantially more sophisticated than traditional multi-pattern metering systems, Nikon's 3D Color Matrix Metering II instantly and accurately evaluates brightness, color, contrast, selected focus area and subject-to-camera distance information, referencing the results against an onboard database of 30,000 scenes from actual photography. Vary the size of the center-weighted area reading and spot metering readings correspond to 11 focusing points.
	In-Camera Image Editing with Retouching Menu: Highly versatile in-camera editing features include Nikon D-lighting, Red-eye Correction, Image Trimming, Image Overlay, Monochrome Black and White, Sepia and Cyanotype along with Skylight, Warm Tone and Custom Color filter effects.
	Built-in Speedlight with Nikon i-TTL flash metering and two-group Wireless Commander: Nikon’s acclaimed i-TTL flash control evaluates flash exposure with greater precision to achieve better automatic flash balance and deliver outstanding results with SB-600, SB-800 or SB-R200 Speedlights.
	2.5” LCD color monitor with 170-degree, wide-angle viewing: Playback images can be viewed easily from all angles with extraordinary color and clarity.
	11-area AF system with Wide-area Center Segment and Auto-area AF functions:Nikon’s Multi-CAM 1000 provides maximum flexibility and optimum performance under varied shooting situations. 11-area autofocus system features a cross-type sensor in the center, broad frame coverage, as well as class-leading low light detection and convenient AF-assist illuminator to aid in low-light conditions. New Wide Area AF option gives greater compositional freedom when shooting sports and action.
	Seven Digital Vari-Programs plus Programmed Auto with Flexible Program, Shutter-Priority Auto, Shutter-Priority Auto and Manual: Digital Vari-Programs include: Auto Portrait, Landscape, Macro Close up Sports, Night landscape, Night portrait each of which adjust automatically for optimal results under varied conditions—automatically.
	Image Optimization Mode: Optimize color, contrast, sharpening as well as other image settings according to the type of scene or output desired. Options include: Normal, Softer, Vivid, More Vivid, Portrait, Custom, Black and White
	Large, bright 0.94x viewfinder: Optical glass viewfinder features large (0.94X) magnification making composing frames easier while overall viewfinder brightness makes low-light photography possible.
	Built-in Slideshow function with Pictmotion: Select a range of images, pick a style and add music for beautiful picture presentations delivered from the D80 to a television or simply view on the camera’s 2.5 inches LCD. Effects include: slide-in, slide-out, fade-in, and fade-out

You can read more about it on Nikon's site, and you can also check out an extensive preview at dpreview.com

MS Paint like you've never seen before

Stanley William Moore is a guy that has done more in MS Paint than I probably ever will do in Photoshop. I remember being about 10 years old and playing around in Paint (or Paintbrush as it used to be called in Windows 3.1), and being decently proud of pictures I'd drawn that I now recall as being total crud.

The usual Metafilter/Slashdot peanut gallery has already piped up with "OMG PHOTOSHOP" and "THIS GUY IS A LOOZER LOLOL!!11", so before you take a look at the image, read the artist's retort to these juvenile dingbats.

Done? Good. Now feast your eyes upon the following small snippet:

The whole image is here, and a proof of the technique follows. I believe a certain "Jimbob" said it well when he typed "All this negativity is like taking Wagner's Ring Cycle and saying 'Bull, you can't create that sort of music with pen and paper, he must have used ProTools'".

Awesome work, Mr. Moore. I could only wish to have such patience.

Power PC chips take their final bow.

Apple at an event in New York city today announced new changes to their line of Powerbooks, and added Dual Core processors to their Powermac G5 lineup.

New PowerBooks

The 15-inch model now features a screen with 1440 x 900 resolution, the same as the previous generation 17-inch model. The 17-inch model now features a 1680 x 1050 pixel display — the same resolution as Apple’s 20-inch Cinema Display

The new PowerBooks sport 22 percent greater battery life, standard DVD-RW “SuperDrives” and built-in support for Apple’s gargantuan 30-inch Cinema HD Display, according to Moody. Prices start at $1,499 for the 12-inch model, $1,999 for the 15-inch model and $2,499 for the 17-inch model. All systems are shipping today.

New Power Macs

The new systems feature dual-core PowerPC processors and a new system architecture that can support up to 16GB of 533MHz DDR2 RAM. They can also hold up to 1 terabyte (TB) of internal Serial ATA (SATA) storage, and are the first Power Macs to feature PCI Express (PCIe) expansion slots. DDR2 RAM and PCIe are both featured on Apple’s recently refreshed iMac G5 system.

Apple has worked with graphics maker Nvidia Corp. to feature four new graphics options for the refreshed Power Mac G5 line, including the Quadro FX 4500 — Nvidia’s fastest workstation card. This fills a gap in the Power Mac line that has long been criticized by 3D graphics professionals and others who have wanted faster graphics systems than the consumer-oriented cards and chips Apple has offered in the past. The Quadro card can support dual 30-inch displays, according to Moody.

The new Power Macs G5 “Quad” system touts eight floating point units, four velocity engines, four 1MB Level 2 caches and is capable of processing 76.6 gigaflops. “There is some serious horsepower under the hood,” said Moody.

The Power Mac G5 starts in a single-processor, dual-core configuration clocked at 2.0GHz for $1,999. The 2.3GHz dual-core system costs $2,499, and the “Quad” dual-processor, dual-core system starts at $3,299.

Cinema HD Displays

Apple has also realigned pricing on its 23-inch and 30-inch CInema HD Displays. Effective today, the 23-inch Cinema HD Display costs $1,299, down from $1,499, while the 30-inch Cinema HD Display costs $2,499, down from $2,999.

These updates will probably prove to be the last before Apple begins moving to Intel processors next year.

Apple also introduced a new software application for proffessional photographers called Aperture. The new software was developed from the ground up as a productivity tool which allows easy managing of massive photo libraries and simple editing of RAW files from all major camera manufacturers. Aperture will be available starting in November for $500 US.

More! We demand more!

On the heels of yesterday's news we bring you more from the realm of gadget convergence. Apparently, NEC and NAIST (Nara Institute of Science and Technology from Japan) have teamed together to bring high resolution scanners to cell phones.

Commuters in Japan already anger bookstore owners and newsagents by using existing cellphone software to try to take snapshots of newspaper and magazine articles to finish reading on the train to work.

This is only possible because some phones now offer very rudimentary optical character recognition (OCR) software which allows small amounts of text to be captured and digitised from images.

But with the new software entire documents can be captured. As a page is being scanned the OCR software takes dozens of still images of the page and effectively merges them together using the outline of the page as a reference guide. The software can also detect the curvature of the page and correct any distortion so caused, enabling even the areas near the binding to be scanned clearly.

Using the new software with a 1-megapixel camera held at least 20centimetres away, an A4 sized page takes about 3 to 5 seconds to scan. This produces between 21 and 35 images which the software merges together to extract the text and record any images.

This makes sense when used for sending documents and such, but stealing magazine's because you don't feel like buying them? That's lame. If anything replaces reading a magazine for me, it definitely won't be my cellphone.

The end to dark, grainy 'phone photos' it seems.

Micron today released two new CMOS sensors, destined for your next handset. The two new sensors (3.1 and 5.1 megapixels) are designed to provide better optics and color as well as give more resolution than the current generation of cellphone cameras give.

5-Megapixel, 1/2.5-Inch CMOS Image Sensor

Micron’s exclusive DigitalClarity technology dramatically reduces noise levels in our CMOS sensors. The 5- megapixel, 1/2.5-inch optical format of the MT9P001, operating within the space constraints of mobile applications, brings DSC-class images to the mobile phone space. Your MT9P001-equipped phone or digital still camera will deliver sharp, crystal-clear images—whether capturing continuous video or single frames—even in extreme low-light conditions.

The MT9P001 comes with all the advantages of our CMOS technology, including a small form factor, low power consumption, fast performance, and ease of integration. Sophisticated camera functions, including programmable gain, frame rate, exposure time, image mirroring, and viewfi nder and snapshot modes have been incorporated onto the chip itself.

Hopefully it won't be long before we see these in ubiquity as there are far too many people wasting kilobytes on completely worthless pictures at the moment. This would definitely make it more difficult for entry level point-and-shoot camera makers to compete, but it would also mean only one box in your pocket, which is always nice.

There are some sample images up on Micron's website and they look suprisingly good. Here are pictures from a 5.1 and 3.1 megapixel sensor.

Looking good, looking good

Entrants will compete for more than $15,000 in prizes

ATI has sent word about their "Snap! Share! Win!" photography contest. Here is the press release:

MARKHAM, ON – August 25, 2005 – ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX: ATY,NASDAQ:ATYT) is inviting photographers 13 years of age or older from acrossNorth America to showcase their talent and compete for the ultimate digitalimaging system and other great prizes in ATI's new Snap! Share! Win! photocontest.

Photographers of every skill level can enter the Snap! Share! Win! contest.Fifteen semifinalists will be chosen by a panel of five celebrity judges,including photography and digital imaging pros like U.S. rock musicphotographer Catherine Carter, Vanity Fair, Vogue and Elle fashion shooterRobert Maxwell, and the director of photography for the hit TV showsSurvivor and The Apprentice, Jim Harrington.

Semifinal judging by the celebrity panel will lead to a final round ofjudging in which the best 15 photos are posted on the Snap! Share! Win! Website for viewing and final voting by the public in an American Idol-styleshowdown of top talent. There will be one Grand Prize Winner, five categorywinners and 10 category runners-up.

The grand prize for the contest is a $5,000 digital imaging systemfeaturing a Kodak EasyShareTM digital camera and photo printer, a DellTMXPS Gen 5 PC with 24" flat panel display, a Canon Optura digital videocamera and Adobe(r) Photoshop(r) Elements imaging software.

Contest runners-up will have a chance to take home digital photographyproducts from Kodak, Dell, Adobe and ATI worth a total of $10,000. Thecontest is open to entries until September 23, 2005, and final winners willbe announced December 5, 2005.

"Digital photography continues to soar in popularity and at ATITechnologies we are really excited about giving people this opportunity toshare their best digital images with the world," said Rick Bergman, SeniorVice President and General Manager, PC Business Unit, ATI Technologies Inc."The best images in the Snap! Share! Win! photo contest will be judged byindustry pros and lead to a great showdown to choose our final winners bypublic voting."

Snap! Share! Win! contestants can enter their photos in one of fivecategories: People, Humor, Nature, Animals, and Other. Music videos arealso eligible and complete contest details are available online at http://www.ati.com/snapsharewin.

I'll ask my girlfriend to enter, and if she wins, I'll demand the 24" flat-panel. She can keep the Dell PC. I'm only half-kidding. ;-)

Major manufacturers are working on a new display technology that may eventually displace LCD's

Hitachi. Fujitsu. Sony. Seiko-Epson.

Not exactly small fry, are they?

And they are all working on a next-generation display technology called E Paper. E Paper promises to reduce power consumption by two to three orders of magnitude compared to conventional displays as E Paper only uses electricity when a pixel has to change. Yes, it means that the paper is non-volitale and will keep an image until it is erased.

Potential applications include "newspapers" where the pages are downloaded on the fly; billboards, computer displays, e-books - basically any kind of electronic display or anything that is currently printed.

While color e-paper has been demonstrated, it is likely that the first wide scale uses will monochrome as that technology is more mature.

Fill the slots please...

Apparently soon we will see more goodies for those PCIx slots in our motherboards. This is good news; personally I want to have more than one TV tuner in my HTPC, and don't want to be limited to AGP/PCI mATX boards.

The grayscale security video grabbers don't interest me right now; but it's only a matter of time before Hauppage or others start shipping PCIx 1x hardware MPEG encoders.

Just think... if there was a PCIx 1x two tuner hardware mpeg encoder, two slots would let us capture four streams at once... yes, I know, overkill - personally I can't see using more than three at once :-)

Imaging scientist claims he has found NASA's Mars Polar Lander, which went missing in 1999

NASA's Mars Polar Lander went missing in action when it is believed that its landing rockets cut out 40 meters above the surface of Mars. The official investigation into the loss of the $165m MPL concluded that the erroneous decision by the spacecraft's on-board computer to turn off the rockets was caused by the jolt of the deployment of a landing leg, which the computer perceived as touch-down with the surface.

The Mars Global Surveyor was tasked with the search for the MPL in 1999-2000, during which it took many high-resolution photos of the area of Mars in question. Nothing was found -- or so it appeared. Dr. Michael Malin, chief scientist and President of Malin Space Science Systems, which operates the camera aboard the Mars Global Surveyor, has re-examined the photographs taken by the MGS along with his team, and they claim to have found what appears to be the Mars Polar Lander.

Dr. Malin thinks he can identify a parachute close to the imaged location, and he says disturbed ground matches what one would see if a rocket had blasted the surface from a height of tens of metres.

"It seems that the MPL investigation board may have been correct," Dr Malin tells Sky and Telescope.

"MPL's descent proceeded more or less successfully through atmospheric entry and parachute jettison. It was only a few short moments before touchdown that disaster struck."

This isn't the usual Neoseeker read, but it's quite interesting nonetheless. Click the two photographs in the article for some pop-up windows with more photos.

Designed for high-performance gaming, shipping Q2

LCD panel wars are the new in between certain manufacturers. Before you even see last announcement's products on store shelves, a competing manufacturer announces an even better monitor. Such is the case today as well.

Last January I remember talking about a 6 ms LCD from Benq. Today, Viewsonic Corp. has announced that they will be shipping a pair (as in two models, not two monitors :-P) of LCD monitors with a 4 ms response time in the second quarter of this year. Shipping in May will be the 19" VX924, and later in June the 17" VX724 will show its face. The 4 ms response time refers to gray-to-gray transitions, along with a 5 ms typical response time for other graduations.

The VX924 and VX724 are the first desktop displays to combine ViewSonic’s proprietary Dynamic Structure™ and Amplified Impulse™ video response acceleration technologies to support rates of up to 250 frames per second across the entire color scale. This advancement produces superior front-of-screen performance for motion video, since the majority of video transitions on games and digital entertainment occur within these intermediate ranges.

It wasn't too long ago that I shelled out $670 CAD + tax for my NEC LCD1550M with its (now mediocre) 25 ms response time. Gaming on it was superb, and I didn't notice much ghosting at all, but I'm sure that gaming on this year's forthcoming models would take my breath away.

LCD technology is really taking off.

Competitor to DLP projection units cancelled

Intel has a second highly publicized product cancellation in as many weeks with the announcement that their Liquid Crystal on Silicon technology that was to be used in making cheap but big televisions will be canned. 

"It is a return-on-investment issue," Intel spokeswoman Shannon Love said.

...

"It seems like the technology and business case for LCOS is still not there," David Steel, vice president of Samsung's digital-media business, said in May.

A friend of mine has a DLP TV and it is pretty snazzy and while it is pretty thin compared to a traditional rear projection television set, it is still pretty bulky and would be a North America only item. Last time I was over in Asia, LCDs and plasma displays were the norm for big TVs - I don't recall seeing rear projection units and this was several years ago. I guess Intel figures that fracturing the DLP market here is not going to help their business case any.

Attempt to patent FAT filesystem rejected by USPO

A few months ago there was a big stink as Microsoft applied for a FAT patent in light of the fact that pretty much all portable media devices use FAT as the file system and a lot of companies were up in arms about it as Microsoft asked for a pretty penny for licensing to the tune of $250,000.  Well it looks like their patent attempt has been quashed for now according to The Inq

According to the Public Patent Foundation, however, the Office has confirmed that the Microsoft patent is bogus. The Patents Office rejected the proposed applications for several reasons, including the fact that some of its grounds for applying were unpatentable.

What's more interesting is that some manufacturers may have accepted Microsoft's claims and taken out licences on the patent.

I wonder how refunds work in situations like this. I don't suppose one just calls up Microsoft to ask them to deposit the money back into a bank account.