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BBC NEWS | Programmes | Who's Watching You? | Camera grid to log number plates
British police forces expect to soon see the completion of a national network of cameras that automatically recognize vehicle plate numbers. According to the BBC, the thousands of cameras already in place have resulted in a 40% increase in arrests.
Online image processing resources
Jun. 28th, 2008 11:59 amrsizr - Image resizing on the fly, useful when you just need to shrink something to icon size.
Picnik - online photo editor. I haven't tried this yet so user-beware.
Wired article on shooting Black and White photos - A few simple, but useful, things to remember
Picnik - online photo editor. I haven't tried this yet so user-beware.
Wired article on shooting Black and White photos - A few simple, but useful, things to remember
More articles from the queue
Feb. 5th, 2008 03:02 pmCanadian songwriters propose collective licensing - This Slashdot article links to a proposal by the Songwriters Association of Canada in which each internet and wireless customer in Canada pays a $5 yearly fee, and in return can freely share any and all music they purchase as they see fit. They money would be distributed among songwriters, performers, music publishers and record labels.
Stanford offers free conversion of photos to 3D - Researchers at Stanford university have made available a new online service (http://make3d.stanford.edu/) to test drive a new process that attempts to infer 3D structures from a single 2D image. The process uses a Markov Random Field to infer the position and orientation of each a 3D patch corresponding to each point in the image, and from that generate a mesh model. The original image is then laid over the 3D mesh to allow you to perform a limited fly-through of the image.
You can save lives or save money - A research group in the Netherlands has determined that smokers and obese people cost less to a health care system in the long run because they die sooner. Meanwhile, thin and healthy people cost the system the most because they tended to live longest. The conclusion was that reducing smoking and obesity rates will increase, not decrease, overall health care costs.
US privacy board is running on empty - In 2007, the Privacy and Civil Liberty Oversight Board was created to keep an eye on US anti-terrorist activities to ensure that the privacy and civil liberties of US citizens were being safeguarded. The terms for all members of the board expired on January 30th, but no candidates have yet been nominated to sit on the board.
Shapeshifting robots from magnetic swarms - New Scientist reports on attempts by US researchers to build "claytronic" robots that cling together, allowing them to assume any shape. Follow the link to view a video of what they envision to be the outcome of this research. In larger test robots, electromagnetism was used to share power, communicate, move, and sense their environment. The test robots had wheels, but they were unpowered so they could only maneuver using their electromagnets and by working together.
Stanford offers free conversion of photos to 3D - Researchers at Stanford university have made available a new online service (http://make3d.stanford.edu/) to test drive a new process that attempts to infer 3D structures from a single 2D image. The process uses a Markov Random Field to infer the position and orientation of each a 3D patch corresponding to each point in the image, and from that generate a mesh model. The original image is then laid over the 3D mesh to allow you to perform a limited fly-through of the image.
You can save lives or save money - A research group in the Netherlands has determined that smokers and obese people cost less to a health care system in the long run because they die sooner. Meanwhile, thin and healthy people cost the system the most because they tended to live longest. The conclusion was that reducing smoking and obesity rates will increase, not decrease, overall health care costs.
US privacy board is running on empty - In 2007, the Privacy and Civil Liberty Oversight Board was created to keep an eye on US anti-terrorist activities to ensure that the privacy and civil liberties of US citizens were being safeguarded. The terms for all members of the board expired on January 30th, but no candidates have yet been nominated to sit on the board.
Shapeshifting robots from magnetic swarms - New Scientist reports on attempts by US researchers to build "claytronic" robots that cling together, allowing them to assume any shape. Follow the link to view a video of what they envision to be the outcome of this research. In larger test robots, electromagnetism was used to share power, communicate, move, and sense their environment. The test robots had wheels, but they were unpowered so they could only maneuver using their electromagnets and by working together.
Space Tractors and Paper Furniture
Feb. 17th, 2007 07:43 amSource: PhysOrg  NASA suggests that a "spce tractor" could be used to move potential earth-killer asteroids off their collision course. They suggest this may be a better solution than blowing them up, which could result in multiple huge pieces still hitting the earth and wreaking havoc. |
Source: Technology Review  Scientists at the University of Southern California are preparing to test a new retinal implant that may provide 4 times the resolution of previous models. These previous models have been tested in humans and have enjoyed some success in restoring limited vision to those with retinal-degenerative diseases. The new device still depends on an external camera and imaging processing. They predict that the third-generation devices will have 10 times the resolution of the new model. |
Source: Transmaterial  Softseating is a series of paper chairs that are designed with a honey-comb structure that allow them to be folded up and stored when not in use. The seats are expected to improve with age because constant use will soften the paper fibers. They are also flame-retardent and recyclable. |
Source: SlashDot  A student at MIT emulated an XOR (shown here) gate and and AND gate using only water, sufficient to build a half-adder. Although not likely to win the Nobel prize, the logic circuits he designed are useful for demonstrating how logic gates work. |
Source: BBC News  Japanese researchers have exploited the human eye's inability to process the colour yellow well (I was surprised to hear that) to hide printed text in images. The text can then be read by software on a call-phone's camera by filtering out everything in yellow. They can currently store 12-bits of information, about the same as the average bar code. They hope to use this technology to connect printed material to online material. |
