Friday, October 30, 2009

3-D Cameras. A Wave of the Future?

In the world of Harry Potter, photos of people in newspapers and posters seem to have a life of their own. For muggles like us, our technology has a long way to catch up to the wizards to have moving photographs. But with the new camera of Fuji, muggles may have taken a wee step closer in terms of photography.

As per NY Times:
Fujifilm just took the wraps off its long-awaited 3-D camera and photo frame, which can capture and display 3-D (and 2-D) photos and video. The technology is sometimes amazing, but it seems likely to appeal primarily to a small group of stereoscopic photo enthusiasts.
Since it is a new technology. it is obviously not perfect yet. It is observed that the people will be fascinated because of its novelty, not because of the quality or the "realness" of the photos. But I think it has a lot of potential. Who knows, maybe 3=D pictures will be the norm in the future, just like 3=D films today! Er... or maybe not...

Friday, October 23, 2009

Yearning for a Standard eBook Format

I like reading books, whether it is in printed or digital form. Sometimes, it is better to read a book on paper. The look, feel and smell of the paper just adds to the reading experience. But reading digital books has its advantages too. I read books through my Palm Treo phone, and the fact that the books are in my phone is a very convenient thing. Whenever I commute, or I am about to sleep, I just whip out my phone and read. Also, since I have everything on my phone, I can store my favorite books, minus the weight and bulkiness of an actual book.

But one gripe that I have with digital books is that there is no universal format as of yet. For my phone, I have three different readers in order to read my books, because of incompatibility of format. For those who want to try digital books, deciding which ereader (like Kindle) to purchase may turn them off. Since there is no dominant format yet, will not be resolved for a long time, until one ereader stands out from the rest.

Photo: oskay, Flickr, Creative Commons