Posts tagged "Technology"

New camera technology helps remove photobombers from your pictures

With a new software to help remove unwanted objects from your pictures, Scalado aims to make mobile photography and digital photo editing that much more advanced.

Photobombers. Can’t avoid ‘em, can’t live without ‘em. Sure, they make for hilarious afterthoughts when you spot them but it sure is painful when all you wanted was a perfect picture of your girlfriend by a pretty water fountain and what you get is a bunch of drunk college kids peering out behind her, armed with Four Lokos. Or maybe you’re on a trip with a bunch of friends and you get in a fight with one guy in the group and want to pretend the jerk never existed. Here’s where Scalado’s Remove comes in. 

With this new patented object removal technology, users are to take a moment to frame the shot before snapping the picture as they normally would. Those few seconds before the shot is taken allows the app to record stationary objects in the scene. After the picture is taken, users can pick out moving objects in the frame that the program had deemed impermanent to the shot, such as passing cars, people or stray animals. Then, with just a quick tap, those items are cleared from your photo as if they were never there. You don’t have to wait for background of your shot to clear up anymore especially if you’re in a busy place, and you can edit the pictures way after the fact by storing the scene in your phone to fix at a later time. If you decided you’ve deleted too much (or made up with that jerk in the group and want to accept his existence after all), Remove also allows users to go back and reedit the shot to put back the objects that were originally captured. Scalado will be unveiling the official Remove software at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain later this month. 

The idea is similar to Adobe Photoshop’s new content-awareness fill function which clone stamps an area of a picture you deleted with what the program assumes should be there instead. However, because Remove recognizes in video what’s static and not, its result should be much more seamless. Scalado’s previous projects include Rewind, a software that takes a series of photos so the user can edit the best parts of each photo into one composite image. This is aimed at group photos to help each person select the best shot of themselves in the series, because you know there’s always inevitably one person in the group who blinked or didn’t like the way their hair looked in the final picture.

However, before you get excited, it does not seem like Remove will be a downloadable app for various mobile platforms. Instead, Scalado will enter the market as licensed original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partnerships with major phone companies such as Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and HTC. See the software demo here and decide for yourself if Remove will set a new standard for mobile photography.

[via Digital Trends]

Mercedez-Benz mbrace2 in-vehicle technology and apps hands-on

[via SlashGear]

Qualcomm AllJoyn proximity-based peer-to-peer technology hands-on

This month we got the opportunity to speak with Qualcomm on a technology of theirs by the name of AllJoyn, made to allow proximity-based device-to-device communication possible without the use of an intermediary server. We’ve got hands-on looks with smartphone games, tablet games, music and document applications, and some tablet-to-television action as well all lined up for you here. Discover what makes Qualcomm’s all-inclusive framework surrounding this powerful technology so great!

With AllJoyn, most of the work is done by developers before you, the user, ever gets it in your hands – this is part of what makes AllJoyn so excellent – you barely even need to know it’s there! The next thing that makes AllJoyn so enticing is its ability to connect devices together without a middle-man – you’ll see several different examples of ways this is happening in the videos below. Then there’s the support developers get from Qualcomm when developing with AllJoyn – there’s nothing like having an ultra-pro group of technical specialists there to help you when you’re working with a new technology, especially when you’re a developer on the rise.

Namco’s Pacman Kart

First peek at a presentation of Pacman Kart from Namco working on a pair of Sony Ericsson Xperia Play smartphones. Here you’ll hear how when both devices are connected to one another directly with AllJoyn – pay special attention to the end of the video where we speak on how these devices could be connected with their Wi-fi radios or their built-in bluetooth, AllJoyn not needing you to choose between them – it just works!

Phunware on a tablet connected to smart TV

Next take a look at a set of apps created by Phunware to work on a Qualcomm-powered tablet (an HTC Jetstream for those of you wondering) communicating with a Qualcomm-powered smart tv (powered by an S3 chip). You’ll find that the connection between the tablet and the television is in-sync because AllJoyn is communicating between the two devices with the radios built-in to either. The first example has an interactive trivia game controlled by the tablet. The next example has video playing on the television while related links and images appear on the tablet. The final example has a karaoke game that uses the tablet as a microphone, able then to play the song back with the voice you recorded the song in on the television immediately after you sang it.

JamJoyn music

JamJoyn is shown next, this an application custom-made for AllJoyn in which music is able to be controlled by several different devices all working with the same stereo. The devices used here are the HTC Thunderbolt and the HTC Nexus One (both running Snapdragon processors, of course) working with a Jawbone JAMBOX, each of them able to control the music by switching tracks, adding to a single playlist, and more. In this use case you’ll find the list of songs sitting below a control panel on both devices – the JAMBOX is connected to the Thunderbolt with an audio output cord, but both devices can control the jams.

Whiteboard

AllJoyn shows its power again with an app by the name of Whiteboard in which regardless of how many devices you’ve got open with the same canvas, anyone can draw and the canvas will be modified accordingly. Imagine the use of such a tool in an educational setting – especially in an art class! You could have a set of tablets all showing off the same piece of artwork with each one able to modify the rest – brilliant!

Fight Game: Heroes

We also got the chance to play the brand new mobile game Fight Game Heroes connected with AllJoyn on Qualcomm MSM8960 developer platform tablets. It was your humble narrator versus Cory Gunther and, believe it or not, I get knocked out in no time flat. Have a peek and see how versatile this system is on a couple of tablets made for developers only!

We’ll certainly continue to keep you updated on Qualcomm’s work with AllJoyn and will continue to bring you use-case scenarios as they appear on the mass market. Exciting stuff coming from a group that brings you not just the processor, but a network of finely tuned hardware in every device they work with. Developers get your thinking caps out!

[via SlashGear]