• Footage Shot at 2,564 Frames per Second with a Phantom Flex Camera

    // Gradly // blog, Rants & Raves, Tech. 2 Responses

    Check out this video shot by Tom Guilmette in a Las Vegas hotel room in 1080p at 2,564 frames per second. The video shot using a brand new Phantom Flex high speed digital cinema camera. The result was spectacular watch it for yourself. Here is what Engadget had to say about it:

    Ever wanted to see flowing water slowed down to the point of transforming into a series of airborne droplets? This video has that. And more. A chap by the name of Tom Guilmette got to work with a Vision Research Phantom Flex camera recently, and, being the true geek that he is, he put together a video composition of staggering slow-motion footage. When pushed to its limit, the Phantom is capable of filling every second of 1080p recording with 2,800 frames, though Tom mercifully ran it at a lower 2,564fps speed. That’s still sufficient temporal resolution to let you track the wave of an impact’s vibration as it travels up a BlackBerry’s body — oh yeah, it’s as awesome as it sounds.

  • Apple’s busy diary for 2011

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, News, Rants & Raves, Tech. 2 Responses

    Mac App Store

    January

    * Mac App Store opens for business
    * Apple introduces the iPad 2.0 — faster, thinner, new cameras, shipping “by April”.
    * Apple reports Q1 results — confirm huge Mac sales growth, stellar iPad sales and extremely strong iPhone statistics.
    * iWork 11 makes App Store debut.
    * News Corp. ships ‘The Daily’ magazine

    February

    * Aperture upgraded
    * First million apps downloaded from Mac App Store, iWork and a variety of free gaming apps see huge success.
    * iAds spring partners unveiled, though Apple skips discussion of revenue.
    * iTunes update brings TV show streaming and subscription services. Cable company shares take a dive.

    March

    * iPhone hits Verizon
    * White iPhone ships, but supplies deeply constrained
    * iBookstore update brings the Web to books
    * iBookstore/iTunes Extra title creation tool revealed, will this be part of future iLife suite?

    April

    * Apple upgrades MacBook Pro range, some models lose optical drives and gain SSD as standard. “We said this is where mobile computing is going, we still believe this,” says Jobs.
    * Apple reports Q2 results
    * iPad 2.0 hits retail for the first time, over a million sold on day one.
    * Final Cut Studio upgrade is 64-bit and integrates powerful iAd and virtual environment creation features.
    * iMac update now ships with Magic Trackpad as standard.

    May

    * iPad 2.0 achieves six million sales in first two months.
    * Logic Studio upgrade ships, now offers additional features for live performance mixing, including automated level controls for live desk recording.

    June

    * Steve Jobs keynotes WWDC
    * iPhone 5 debuts at WWDC
    * WWDC sees beta release of OS X Lion to developers.
    * Safari 6 offers improved Flash support — Flash now an optional extra.
    * OpenJDK Project announces first fully-tested public beta of Java for OS X Lion and Snow Leopard systems.
    * iOS 5 offers plethora of features, including new mapping and location-sensing tools. Apple focuses its pitch on easy-to-use and understand privacy controls for location and usage information.

    July

    * iPhone 5, iPad 2.0 reaches new countries
    * Apple reports Q3 results
    * Apple desktop products upgraded, now ship with Magic Trackpad as standard. Mac Pro now boasts LightPeak connectivity.

    August

    * Apple hosts special music event, introduces new products which ship in September (see below).
    * Apple introduces Android emulator for iPhone, “There’s some good apps on Android, now iPhone users can run them on their iPhone, unless they use Flash,” says Jobs.
    * Hell freezes over, iTunes app lets Android users purchase music from their favorite music store.

    September

    * iTunes 11 ships, offers cloud-based music locker service. “We’ve been working on this for a while,” admits Steve Jobs as he introduces the service.
    * New iPod touch ships, chassis is more like the iPhone 4, capacity increased.
    * iPod nano replaced by iPhone nano, worn like a watch and equipped with an A4 processor and the capacity for voice calls, this smaller cheaper iPhone is feature-limited but lets you Tweet, Facebook and email on the move.
    * iPod classic gets speed bump.
    * Apple TV gains latest (A5?) processor.

    October

    * Mac OS X ‘Lion’ ships
    * iOS 5.1 debuts, extends iOS/OS X integration.
    * iLife 12 appears, equipped with additional ‘cloud’-based features this is the first version of iLife to be made available exclusively via the App Store.
    * Apple reports Q4 results.

    November

    * iOS 5.2 upgrade ships

    December

    * App Store downloads now reach 5 billion
    * Mac App Store downloads reach 100 million
    * Apple confirms 5 million iPhone nano sales, cuts price for Christmas market.

    [via: computerworld]

  • Apple 3D patent details glasses-free display projection

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, News, Tech. 1 Response

    Apple has patented a 3D display system that requires neither special glasses or parallax screens, and which will supposedly enable “inexpensive auto-stereoscopic 3D displays that allow the observer complete and unencumbered freedom of movement.” The system would instead use a combination of eye-tracking and a special, reflective display that would monitor the position of the user and bounce the image from a projector so as to split 3D content for the left and right eye.

    Apple 3D Patent Display

    Apple describes the special display involved as “a projection screen having a predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function,” which basically means that the angle of light reflection from different points on the screen would be predicable enough for a computer to bounce light with individual eye accuracy. It’s unclear whether Apple’s system would be able to support more than one simultaneous viewer, or indeed what computational requirements such a setup might demand.

    The application was filed back in 2006, and of course there’s no guarantee that Apple ever intends to produce 3D-capable hardware using the technology it covers.

    [via CNET]

  • Apple could have had Microsoft’s Kinect controller?

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, Consoles, Microsoft, Tech. 1 Response

    Microsoft’s Kinect

    Yes, says PrimeSense, the company whose technology is behind Microsoft’s new Xbox Kinect, originally tried to sell it to Apple. What went wrong and why didn’t Apple get it? Yup, secrecy and control!

    Apple has a history of interface innovation, of course, and had recently introduced the iPhone with its paradigm-shifting multitouch UI. PrimeSense’s system went one step further: It was multitouch that you didn’t even have to touch. Apple seemed like a natural fit.

    Yet the initial meetings hadn’t gone so well. Obsessed with secrecy, Apple had already asked [PrimeSense CEO Inon Beracha] to sign a stack of crippling legal agreements and NDAs.

    He shook his head. Why didn’t he want to do a deal with Apple? No need. The technology was hot. He could sell it to anyone.

    [via: cult of mac]