Barco's R-360 Flight Simulation Dome - Crystall Ball

This here is Barco's R-360 flight simulation dome - Crystall Ball, though it's awfully close to being a sphere. It offers state-of-the-art visuals and full 360-degree views--much better than a lousy screen.

Immersive Flight Simulation Dome Offers Seamless, Super-Real 360-Degree Views

Barco, a maker of large-format projector technologies, has just unveiled what it is calling a breakthrough in flight simulator technology, and for all the hardware involved we’re inclined to agree that his must be something big. The new flight simulator dome--it’s really more like a sphere--offers state of the art high-res visuals and full 360-degree views, allowing fighter pilot trainees to spot other aircraft from 12 miles away.

That’s something of a step up from that flight simulator you used to play on your mom’s PC. The dome is bathed in light from 13 or 14 10-megapixel projectors, which are calibrated by laser to ensure complete crispness in picture. The projectors can also display imagery in infrared so pilots can train for night flights--wearing night vision, pilots actually see the blooming and halo effects caused by night vision technology.

That kind of realism is critical to ensuring pilots are prepared for real-world scenarios, the company says, and should help launch a new generation of similar simulators designed around a completely immersive experience in which several pilots can actually work together to carry out a mission rather than just run through a set of programmed scenarios.

Video: Immersive Flight Simulation Dome Offers Seamless, Super-Real 360-Degree Views

The setups are configurable and customizable so you’ll have to call up Barco if you want a price quote. The video below is mostly an extended commercial for the product, but it does provide some nice views from inside the cockpit.

Giant Octopus Portrait

Giant octopus portrait, October 2011

This is a Giant Octopus portrait with natural reaction. Underwater portraiture is a tricky endeavor. Animals often end up looking greenish or blueish, thanks to the tint of the water--but some of these animals are emphatically not greenish/blueish. This Pictured is the North Pacific giant octopus, arguably the largest octopus in the world, photographed by Mark Laita using studio strobe lighting.

portrait by Mark Laita

New Camera: Canon EOS-1D X Full-Frame Pro DSLR

Canon EOS-1D X Full-Frame Pro DSLR

Almost everything that was in Canon's new professional association designed from the ground up

This is New Camera: Canon EOS-1D X Full-Frame Pro DSLR. If you’re looking more pixels on the digital SLR Canon's new star want to look away from the EOS-1D X, due out March 2012. With its full frame sensor, the X-1D Mark III replaces the 1Ds and 1D Mark IV, the abolition of the APS-H-line from Canon. Although it has only 18 million effective pixels, it did not bother us at all.

 

By keeping the pixel count down, matching the sensor with a pair of Digic 5+ image processors and with the help of a hefty buffer, the 1D X offers full burst capability at up to 12 frames per second, or up to 14 fps when shooting JPEG-only with the mirror and AF locked.

Fewer pixels also means larger pixels‹another plus. The 1D X¹s are 6.95 microns in diameter, 22% bigger than the 1D Mark IV¹s. With this increase comes a top standard ISO of 51,200, expandable essentially to ISO 204,800; minimum sensitivity is ISO 50, down from ISO 100.

As if that weren¹t enough, Canon has completely revamped the rest of the camera¹s features. This includes a new 100,000-pixel RGB metering sensor powering a 252-zone system that works together with a new 61-point (41 cross-type) AF system to track subjects by shape and/or color. The 1D X¹s new interface makes it easier to manage how the AF functions. And it sports many customizable buttons, including four next to the lens on front of the body.

The camera body itself retains pro-level weather sealing, but it does away with the SD card slot in favor of two CF slots. The LCD is now 3.2 inches with 1.04 million dots. The shutter uses lightweight carbon-fiber blades that increase its life to 400,000 cycles (up from the 1D Mark IV¹s 300,000). 

The body also includes a Gigabit Ethernet port for faster tethered shooting. Video reaches 1920x1080/30p or 1280x720/60p saved as H.264 .mov files, but you can also choose either low-compression ALL-I or high-compression IPB.

It's slated for arrival in March 2012, bringing with it a price tag of, get ready for it, $6,800. But, hopefully we'll see some of the cooler features tirckle down into the lower models in the not-too-distant future.

 

Interchangeable Lens Cameras of Nikon J1 and V1

Nikon has been very quiet about his newest camera, but tonight he pulled the curtain and revealed a pair of compact cameras with interchangeable lenses that the company put into full force in the War Coalition. This is Interchangeable Lens Cameras of Nikon J1 and V1. The value of the two chambers by a 10.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, which Nikon called the turn, the size of the CX. 13.2 mm x 8.8 mm is less than the third contest of four, but larger than the next Pentax system Q. This is a factor of 2.7 in the general culture, which comes into play when the F Mount Adapter.

Interchangeable Lens Cameras of Nikon J1 and V1

One of the main talking points for Nikon about the sensor is its ability to do focal plane phase detection AF at hugely fast speeds. When phase detection is wrong for the shooting situation, it automatically switches to contrast AF for speed. First impressions from technical editor, Phil Ryan suggest that it's fast, but not really noticeably faster than Micro Four Thirds in terms of AF. It also helps that it has 73 AF points in phase detection mode. That's a serious array -- more than any other interchangeable lens camera according to Nikon.

Image processing is handled by the Expeed 3 processor, which allows for a burst rate up to 10 fps with AF tracking.

One of the big new stories here is the introduction of the Nikon 1 lens mount. At launch, the J1 and the V1 will have the 1 NIKKOR VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6, 1 NIKKOR VR 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6, 1 NIKKOR 10mm f/2.8 and 1 NIKKOR VR 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 PD-ZOOM. The FT1 mount adapter will allow you to slap any F-mount lens on a 1-series body, which may be a substantial advantage considering their current user base.

There are two models to choose from: The V1 and the J1. The V1 is the higher-end model and includes an integrated electronic viewfinder with 140k dots of resolution. It covers approximately 100% of the frame. It also has a 921k dot TFT LCD display, a mechanical shutter and a flash sync speed of 1/250th of a second. All of that is wrapped up in a magnesium alloy body tougher than that of the J1.

The J1 loses the integrated viewfinder and drops the resolution of the LCD display to 460k dots. It also has an electronic shutter, to help keep the price down.

Interchangeable Lens Cameras of Nikon J1 and V1  

 

The V1 also has the advantage of an accessory shoe into which you can plug a flash -- neither have one built-in -- or a GPS module, neither of which have received official pricing info yet. The J1 has a pop-up flash to make up for its lack of shoe.

Nikon has also spruced up the shooting modes in their new little cameras, some of which blur the line between photography and video capture. Both cameras can capture 1080p video at 60i with simultaneous still image capture at full-resolution.

The Motion Snapshot mode records "about a second" of video footage surrounding the shutter press. It's recorded at 60fps and plays back at 24fps. It actually sounds a lot like a non-repeating cinemgraph.

Both cameras will be available October 20th. The cheaper J1 will cost $649 and come packed with the 10-30mm zoom lens. The V1 will cost $899 packaged with the same lens.

Android Phone from Samsung 'Cricket' Transfix

News from Samsung Android Phone today! This is Samsung Transfix Android phone for Cricket. Maybe we can call it Android Phone from Samsung 'Cricket' Transfix. The new Samsung Transfix is for sale for $ 179.99 without a contract. I thought, given the number of entry-level phones with QWERTY keyboard, which I have seen lately, but this phone really makes sense to Cricket. It's a great price. Done well suited for cricket and the end of the savings to provide an affordable handsets and service plans.

The features of the Samsung Transfix Android phone has a 3.2-inch touchscreen, a QWERTY keyboard, a 800 MHz processor, 3.2-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot and the Android operating system 2.3. 

New Cell Phones 2011 – New Android Phones – New Samsung Cell Phones

- Samsung Transfix cell phone photos

Samsung Transfix Android phone for Cricket

Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition - The Winners of The 2011

Do you know about the Nikon Small World photomicrography competition? The Nikon Small World photomicrography competition awards the most amazing microscopic photos of the year-and I am amazed every year. This year's winners feature a selection of insects, sand, and mouse nerves, all photographed from a disarmingly close distance. These three are the winners of Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition - The Winner of The 2011.

The Winners of the 2011 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition

Green Lacewing Larva

Dr. Igor Siwanowicz

1st Place

 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition - The Winners of The 2011

Dr. Igor Siwanowicz, of the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology
 in Martinsried, Germany, took this photo, a portrait of a Chrysopa sp. (green lacewing) larva at 20x magnification with a 
confocal lens.

Blade of Grass

Dr. Donna Stolz

2nd place

Dr. Donna Stolz, of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, took this photo of a blade of grass at 200X using confocal stack reconstruction, autofluorescence.

Melosira moniliformis

Frank Fox

3rd Place

Frank Fox, of Fachhochschule Trier
 in Trier, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, took this photo of a Melosira moniliformis, living specimen at 320X using a 
Differential Interference Contrast.

if you want to see other winner? just visit here Gallery Nikon

Google Nexus Prime - Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0. Yummy!!

Cell phone With Ice cream sandwich?!  hmm.. looks yummy. By the way it isn’t food.  Samsung Galaxy Nexus Looks like the UI has improved a lot, I really love the larger screen on it and Samsungs AMOLED are amazing looking. The New Google Nexus Prime - Samsung Galaxy Nexus looks smaller than 4.6 inch because the buttons are now part of the display making the phone look similar to a 4.3 incher.

 Google Nexus Prime - Samsung Galaxy Nexus  with Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0. Yummy!!

New Cell Phones 2011 – New Verizon Phones – New Samsung Cell Phones 

Samsung Galaxy Nexus cell phone photos

Google Nexus Prime (Samsung Galaxy Nexus) 

Probably the biggest Android overhaul yet. Looks cohesive, stylish, and smooth. I can tell you that the reason I prefer larger screen size is because browsing is  better and video/photo experience is alot better then 4" or sub 4 inchers.

via BGR