The View from Above: In Hard Focus Round-up (July 20, 2011)

Request your ideal office chair with a simple gesture?: A new system called Data Miming reveals a great application of Microsoft's Kinect sensors, allowing people the ability to translate gestures into a 3D representation of an object. New Scientist describes how this system recognizes Voxels (pixels in three dimensions) and matches them to a ‘vocabulary’ of objects that match the motions. See video above for a demonstration. 

A desktop computer, literally: Another use of Kinect to power 3D sensitive displays, the Evoluce TWO is a multi-touch LCD display that responds to both touch and motion. As Ubergizmo describes, its motion technology can determine “if a glass of water is full or empty," which begs the question of whether it also recognizes ‘half empty or half full?’ Quite impressive technology.

3D without the specs: TechCrunch reports that Hitachi announced a new screen for mobile devices today with impressive 3D capabilities. Highlights of this new model include high resolution, brighter images and the ability to view 3D images with the naked eye. Just when those 3D glasses were getting stylish… 

The View From Above: In Hard Focus Round-up (July 19, 2011)

Mapping local businesses one ‘gig’ at a time: App Gigawalk is leveraging the mobile masses in order to provide companies with valuable insight and information about their business operations. Companies post ‘gigs,’ such as taking pictures of a specific storefront or verifying a billboard advertisement, which app users can complete and submit for payment. Most interesting though, is the feature that GigaOM describes as “a kind of Google Streetview to the insides of restaurants and stores.”

Shallowing smartphones’ depth-of-field: Wired reports that Samsung has a new patent that could allow cell phone users the ability to take photos with a shallow depth-of-field, thus bringing specific objects out of the background and into focus. The technology includes dual lens and works similarly to 3-D cameras. It sure would beat toting a heavy camera around on vacation.

Sony announces return of VR headset: Sony is gearing up, literally, to reintroduce virtual reality headsets back into the gaming world, a move Engadget is calling “very 1995.” Nonetheless, Sony London Studio chief Mick Hocking is still pursuing the development of 3-D products, such as Sony’s PlayStation 3-D monitor. 

The View From Above: In Hard Focus Round-up (July 18, 2011)

Mind-reading is a game with new Android app: Mashable reports on a new wireless device connected to an Android app that measures a user’s neural activity and pulse while one simultaneously plays a game or thinks about a variety of emotional stimuli. Cheap trick or useful tool for measuring concentration levels, say when telling the truth on the stand? Check out the video above.

Facial Recognition FAIL: With all the buzz around facial recognition technology, it’s important to remember that even the best of technology can fail. According to PopSci, one Massachusetts man found out the hard way when he was mistakenly accused of having a fake license, all for looking like another person with less than a stellar driving record.

3-D Not So Magical: Less than a week into its box office success, the final Harry Potter series installment is already proving what the movie industry has already known: 3-D isn’t selling to the crowds. Forbes reports that the 3-D version brought in an estimated 43% of total earnings, far below the target of 60%-70%, and other summer movies aren’t doing much better.

Sharp Develops World's First 3-D Camera System for Mobile Phones

Sharp has developed the world's first 3-D camera system for mobile phones, with mass production to begin by the fall.

The device is capable of producing high-definition 3-D video images by using two small lenses to capture separate images for the left and right eye to create synchronised 3-D pictures.