Internet's Best Secrets

YouTube Auto-Captions

2010-03-10T11:49:00.001Z

Remember that amazing project Google was developing that would allow the automatic creation of captions on YouTube via voice recognition?

Well, this auto-caption service is now available to all english spoken videos.

I just hope we don't have to wailt long for other languages to be included.
(And just imagine all the "data" this will give them, in order to provide an instant voice translation service in the future! :)

Cisco Unveils a 322Tbps Router for a Faster Internet

2010-03-10T10:06:00.000Z

It's not everyday someone makes an announcement "that will change the internet forever", but I guess Cisco has delivered with their new CRS-3 router.

Not for the home user, these routers are required for managing the internet dataflow across the world. And with people getting ever faster internet connections at home (100Mbits and even 1Gbit will become increasingly normal in the next years) this CRS-3 offer three times the performance of the previous models and is capable of routing at speeds of up to 322Tbps!

To give you a better idea this speed would allow you to:

donwload the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress in just a second
deliver 1Gbit to every household in San Francisco
enable every man, woman, and child in China to make a video call - at the same time!
deliver all movies ever made in just 4 minutes

That's what I call speed!

Diagrams and SVG Add-ons for Firefox

2010-03-09T11:35:00.000Z

As you're probabaly aware, one of Firefox's greatest strengths is its infinite ability to learn new tricks via extensions and add-ons. Today, I present you three Firefox add-ons that will simplify your drawing and animation tasks.

Ever had the need to draw some diagrams? You should give this Pencil a try.

If you're more into fast SVG editing, then maybe svg-edit will suit your needs better.

And if static images don't cut ir, how about using Animat to create some animated PNGs in the APNG format?

Nvidia Optimus Power Demo

2010-03-08T13:27:00.007Z

If you recall Nvidia Optimus you'll know this is a system that allows your computer to dynamically switch between graphic cards depending on process at hand.

This time, I bring you quite a clarifying video that shows that the external - more powerful - graphic chip is completely powered off when not needed (not just in a suspended standby state.)

How can we be sure? Well... how about actually removing and re-attaching the graphic card while the rest of the system is still powered on, is that enough for you? :)

HTML 5 - a Video Introduction

2010-03-07T13:18:00.006Z

Still haven't had the time to get onboard the new HTML5 bandwagon? Worry not; here's a nice intro video that will show you some of its new (and amazing) features, with nice examples to get you started:

Web vector graphics with the Canvas tag and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
The Geolocation API
HTML 5 Video
The HTML 5 Database and Application Cache
Web workers

Introduction to HTML 5 from Brad Neuberg on Vimeo.

Written Gesture Search in Android

2010-03-06T10:26:00.007Z

Tired of looking down to your Android screen whenever you want to find something? Too noisy to use the voice search?
How about using written gestures to search in your Android device?

Though it is still an experimental Google Labs feature, I hope they'll soon make it standard for everyone.

Image Reconstruction

2010-03-05T13:58:00.001Z

Looks like those incredible image enhancements we see on TV are becoming increasingly real.
What if someone told you it was possible to reconstruct an image from a noisy or incomplete source?
No matter how impossible it sounded, someone applied some advanced math to it and... the results were amazing.

Be filling the empty spaces using the known pixel as reference, they were able to get crystal clear images out of incomplete MRI scans. And the same applies to most other kinds of images and even sounds!

And this is not all: how about compressing an image by deliberately throwing away the needless pixels that can be rebuilt using this algorithm? As you can imagine, the possibilities are endless!

Time of Flight Cameras - How Project Natal Works

2010-03-04T15:35:00.047Z

I have to admit: ever since I first saw Microsoft's Project Natal, I was wondering what they were using "under the hood".

It's no secret there are a lot of "pseudo-3D" technologies out there, but for MS to be announcing it as a truly revolutionary experience, they had to be using something... amazing.

Well, at last - and actually, by chance - I found what they're using: it's a technology called "Time of Flight", and it allows the creation of a real 3D camera!

Forget everything you knew about 3D technologies. This is no "tricked" 3D image analysis or stereoscopic wizardry. I'm talking about real 3D information from a camera, where each pixel represents a well know 3D point in space.

It uses the same principle of SONAR (with sound) and LIDAR (light), emitting a modulated light pulse and waiting for the time it takes for the reflected signal to get back. Unlike those, however, which require mechanical "swiping" methods to create an "image", time of flight cameras use thousands of receptors - each pixel acts as a tiny range finder - allowing to capture a full 3D image in real time speeds.

And, as each pixel is tuned to look only for a specific modulated light spectrum, it doesn't require - nor is affected - by other light sources.
In the end you get 3 images: one where each pixel intensity represent the distance to that point, one showing a "grayscale" image of the scene, and one other showing a "distance accuracy probability" that tells you how "certain" the camera is of each pixel measurement.

Câmara ToF da MESA Imaging

This kind of technology has therefore nothing to do with "simple" image processing done via regular webcams like the EyeToy. Stuff that is very hard to do with a regular camera (like recognizing overlapping moving objects) suddenly becomes possible, in a much easier way.

The only "issue" is that these cameras currently go for well over $5000 USD (though it's quite feasible to make it a lot more affordable once you built it in mass scale as MS intends to do with its Project Natal.)

If you think all the projects the Wiimote enabled enthusiasts to do... Imagine what an affordable sub $100 ToF camera would allow us to do!

Sean G. x Project Natal from Matthew Pantoja on Vimeo.

LG OLED TV is Coming

2010-03-03T13:36:00.010Z

The 15" OLED TV by LG is already being sold in Korea, and is now making its way to Europe and the US.

The LG 15E9500 is due in Europe next May and will cost...€2000.
It should arrive at the US a couple months later.

Besides the astronomical contrast ratios of 10,000,000:1 and lightning speed response times of 0.001ms, it will serve its purpose of showing us what the future OLED TVs have to offer.
Although it is a lot of money, it's quite a bit less than the smaller SONY XEL-1.
Maybe that's why Sony has opt out of the OLED business - at least for now...

Wacom Cintiq 21UX

2010-03-02T11:25:00.005Z

Wacom fans have a new reason to want to ditch their old digitizer screens, the new Wacom Cintiq 21 UX has everything you'd expect it to have... and more!

Besides all the obvious improvements: more ergonomic pen (now with 2048 pressure levels, and working at the slightest pressure) it also has 8 programmable buttons on each side of the screen as well as some inovative touch sensors on its backside.

Its functiona varies according to the program you use, and allow you real time control of several aspects - you might, for instance, adjust the airbrush spread as you're painting on the screen.

Canon 550D / Rebel T2i

2010-03-01T13:16:00.000Z

Looks like Canon is about to have another winner. Theirs Canon 550D / Rebel T2i seems to deliver everything you would might expect for it.

For all those wanting to create videos with a cinematic look in Full HD 1080p at 24/25/30 fps, this model will offer an unbeatable quality/price ratio (when compared to a 5D/7D for instance.)

While we'll still have to wait a couple more weeks for it to reach to market, you can check the following video in full HD 1080p glory in YouTube, to see what this pre-production model 550D is capable of:

SSD Tweak Utility

2010-02-28T13:50:00.010Z

If you're a proud owner of a SSD (Solid State Drive) and want to make the most out of it without going through endless pages of SSD tweaks and doing it one-by-one by hand, here's: SSD Tweak Utility.

With just a couple mouse clicks you'll be able to optimize your Windows for SSD use by enabling/disabling features that were meant to be used with rotating drives.
Things like defragging and indexing no longer make sense in these faster and instant-access SSD drives and are often, counter-productive.

Lockheed Martin HULC

2010-02-27T14:42:00.006Z

It won't turn you into Hulk, but it well get close. This HULC is an exoskeleton developed by Lockheed Martin (for the military) allowing soldier to carry heavy backpacks with little effort.

Now... it's just a matter of time this type of technology makes its way to more mundane jobs like heavy duty workers in construction or industrial settings.

DIPLOMA: Augmented Reality Rail Shooter

2010-02-26T11:51:00.000Z

One more example of what's to come. This DIPLOMA project uses augmented reality and a Nintendo Wiimote to provide a truly immersive game experience.

Nothing like watching the video to see how it works:

DIPLOMA : Immersive Rail Shooter from David Arenou on Vimeo.

In a realted note, I had the opportunity to play around a bit with a 3D camera, with the same kind of technology that will be used by Microsoft's Project Natal. That thing is simply... AMAZING!
I'll be writing a more detailed review in the following days, but I'm now sure this will really be a big revolution (at least, technology-wise: these 3D cameras cost well over $8000, and MS's Natal is expected to be sold under $100... I just hope it will be "open enough" for us to use in our projects, kind of like what is done with the Wiimote. :)

Gmail with Search Autocomplete, Vacations and custom Label colors

2010-02-25T11:55:00.000Z

It won't be nothing new for all those already using these features from the Gmail Labs section, but now they have graduated to the official Gmail:

Search Autocomplete
- searching is now easier than ever...
Go To Label
- pressing "g" and "l" for the keyboard shortcut aficionados will take them to a "label:" seach.
Forgotten Attachment Detector
- no more embarrassing emails with no attachments
YouTube Previews
- no need to jump to another page to watch a YouTube video
Custom Label Colors
- at last... you can break free from Gmail labels preset color schemes.
Vacation Dates
- Holidays without email worries...

All quite useful - hence their graduation to Gmail... :)

On the other hand, five other Gmail Labs features of "not so much interest" have been removed:

Muzzle
Fixed Width Font
Email Addict
Location in Signature
Random Signature

iRinger - Create your iPhone Ringtones

2010-02-24T11:31:00.000Z

If you'd like to create your own ringtones for your iPhone but have failed to do ti "by hand", following those messy tutorials on the internet, let me help you do it in a much simpler way: you'll just need to use iRinger,

You can start with any audio file, select your favorite part of the song, and even apply some audio effects.
In the end it, your newly created ringtone will be exported directly to iTunes where you'll be able to sync it with your iPhone. (If you don't to use iTunes, you can also upload it directly to your iPhone via SCP/SFTP.)

To make it even better... this iRinger is completely free.

Bloom Box - Energy Revolution in the Making?

2010-02-23T09:52:00.000Z

Will this be it? The next era in energy and power revolution?

I know it sounds too good to be true, but that's exactly what K.R. Sridahr and Bloom Energy say they're about to da as their Bloom Box reaches public announcement (scheduled for tomorrow.)

Can you imagine powering an entire home thanks to just two small cubes (like the ones in the image)?

And forget those noise mechanical generators, this has absolutely no moving parts, and relies on "simple" chemical reactions - a fuel cell - but unlike the other available fuel cells, this one is expected to be much more affordable. At least, once it get to "mass production", in 5 to 10 years.

electrochemical reactions are much more efficient than combustion to shaft to electrical generation techniques

K.R. Sridahr invented one such thing for NASA a while back, for operation on Mars, but his sights are set on a more earthly goal this time: to place a Bloom Box in every home within a decade.

And if you think this is but a mad dream with no real product, let me tell you that Google has been using Bloom Boxes for over a year now, and other big players are using it as well, Ebay, FedEx, etc. have been evaluating Bloom Boxes with seemingly great results and savings.

If all goes well, we might expect to have a small sized noiseless "magic box" that can power up all our electronics, greatly reducing the stress on (or even removing the need for) our costly electric infrastructure.

How Torrents Work

2010-02-22T14:34:00.013Z

No matter how you look at it, torrents are one of the most effective ways to transfer large (and small) quanitites of data among any number of peers.

Instead of relying on powerful servers with enourmous bandwidth capable of handling thousands of users at the same time, bit torrent relies on each peer to contribute a small part of their own bandwidth to send pieces of data to other peers.

Ok... it might sound simple to some, but to a large number of people it still sounds "mysterious".

So, nothing better than seeing how it actually works in this processing visualization of how BitTorrent works.

[Click on the image to jump to the animation]

In the initial moments, you'll see that only the seeders (the people having the complete files) send data to the peers, but after a while... peers themselves will start sharing data - and that's why the original "servers/seeders" will have a lot less "work" to do.

[via Torrent Freak]

Carl Sagan 'A Glorious Dawn'

2010-02-22T13:38:00.000Z

Never get tired of hearing Carl Sagan quotes.

Digital Graffiti

2010-02-21T13:42:00.006Z

Wouldn't it be great if every wall was made of light, and you could simply paint and draw over it with your hands?
Perhaps someday we'll be able to do this in our homes. But for now, although not impossible (as you'll be able to watch in the following video) it still requires a lot of equipment to make it possible.

Google Goggles as OCR Translator

2010-02-20T13:03:00.009Z

Remeber Google Goggles, the image recognition service provided by Google?

Well, as I suspected, it was only a taste of what you'll soon be able to do with it. How about using it as a text translation tool?

Just snap a picture of a menu or any other text, and have it instantly translated into your own language.

For now, it's only an experimental tool, and only works for german-to-english translations, but it's only a matter of time until we'll all be able to use it with many more languages whenever the need arises.

Photoshop turns 20

2010-02-19T09:44:00.006Z

Time does fly. The world's best known photo/image editing program Photoshop turns 20 years today!

Though it remains faithful to its origins, every new Photoshop version introduces features that simplify and/or allow the creation of more amazing effects. It would be hard to find an image somewhere that hasn't been retouched in photoshop.

Photoshop 1.0

Photoshop CS4

Congrats Photoshop. May we all be celebrating your anniversary 20 years from now.

Why people Pirate Movies?

2010-02-19T09:35:00.000Z

It's completely ridiculous how paying customers are treated these days. Whenever you buy a DVD/Bluray/Video Game/etc. you're treated like you're a criminal - even though you just paid good money for it.

To make it even more absurd, anyone choosing to "pirate" that content gets a much friendlier user experience, being able to just use it without any such concerns.

There will always be pirates; but if companies decided to treat the paying customers better, I'm sure a lot more people would be willing to buy their stuff!

Click on the image below to see it in its full glory:

Nvidia Optimus GPU Dynamic Switching

2010-02-18T13:17:00.023Z

Nvidia is once again pushing mixed GPU interaction to the limits.

For a long time computer manufacturers have been trying to find the right balance between performance and power efficiency, especially where it matters the most: battery powered laptops.

While stuffing two graphic cards in laptops is nothing new: a power hungry one offering maximum performance, and a less powerful one offering maxium power savings; it was up to the user to select which one to use according to special power schemes or by toggling a button.
Often, this also meant the user had to log off and on again... which wasn't very user friendly.

With this Nvidia Optimus the principle is the same, but the toggling is made based on the current needs, without any user interaction and without even flickering the screen.

Asus is scheduled to have this system in their laptops (UL50Vf, N61Jv, N71Jv, N82Jv, e U30Jc) soon.

Check the following video (the jerkiness of the video is due to the capture software, in real life it looks as smooth as you'd expect it to be.)

NVIDIA Optimus Technology - GPU Switching 2 - PC Perspective from Ryan Shrout on Vimeo.

Crash-Proof Firefox

2010-02-17T13:34:00.007Z

There's nothing worse than seeing your browser crash and take away all your work and dozens of opent tabs or windows.

To make it even worse, most of the time the problem isn't the browser itself but caused by some problem in some external plugin - like Flash, for example.

Well, soon Firefox will learn some trick from Google's Chrome, running its plugins in a separate process. Meaning: even if the plugin crashes, your Firefox should keep working as usual, like nothing happened - just showing a failed plugin message its web page.