The future of cameras seem to be heading to is smaller, more portable, more disposable and mirrorless (DSLRs have a mirror). When Nokia’s Executive Vice President Anssi Vanjoki told 2010 that Cell Phone Cameras Will Replace DSLRs, I could not believe that on time. But it really seems to become more and more to truth in 2014: Nowadays you can take professional level (“good enough photos”) using consumer level cameras and smart phones. Technical quality is good enough for majority. There is going on a rampant replacement of point and shoot cameras of all flavors and varieties with smart phones and their built in cameras. Now the market is being effectively gutted. Gone. Non-existent. Same thing is happening to video as well.
Part of the technical race came to a (maybe temporary) end: “How can I match and exceed the quality of conventional metrics that we used to get from medium format film.” There’s nothing else pressing to solve, technically. Many photographers are fully equipped but uninspired to move forward. We have have set down for “good enough.” The engineering idea is that we’ve hit the sweet spot and to go for a Six Sigma improvement would be costly and unnecessary.
DSLR sales were down in 2013, worldwide, by 18.5% according to CIPA. The total decline in the entire dedicated camera market is closer to 43.5%. The decline will continue. Credit Suisse prediction: “Only those who have a strong brand and are competitive on price will last – and only Canon, Nikon and Sony fullfil that criteria”. Mirrorless cameras are not a big market: According to CIPA is the total sales of mirrorless system cameras in N. America was slightly fewer than 39,000 units. Total.
The challenge will be: How do you bridge that gap between high photo-capture quality and high-quality camera devices and the cloud where every amateur photographer’s images live? The company which has the most innovative post-processing, easy to share photos feature set wins! The future of photography is same as future in pretty much everything: software and connectivity. Camera manufacturers have been slow on those: we are just now seeing cameras with full operating systems like Android The advantages to smart phones are size, constant (annoyingly constant) access, multi-task tool set, and the ability to send your images, electronically, to an audience just about anywhere in the world.
Several smartphone makers have clear strategies to take photography to extremes: 40 megapixel camera is already on the market and several manufacturers are playing with re-focus after shooting options.
Consumer video device trend is that separate classic video cameras have pretty much faded from market. New smart phones have high definition video cameras in them, so for most users there is no need for separate video camera. For special uses there are small “action” video cameras that are so tiny that you can place them almost anywhere and they can take some beating while you perform your extreme sports. If the video quality of those do not suffice, many people use their DSLR to shoot higher quality high definition video. For professional video production there is still some market left for professional and prosumer video cameras.
The world seems to be heading to situation where separate DSLRs and separate video cameras will be more like high fidelity audio, which used to be common selling point in 1970s, 80s and early 90s, but now only some geeks care about audio quality. This will more or less happen to photographs and video.
Connected TV technologies get more widely used and the content earlier viewable only on TV can be now seen on many other screens. Your smartphone is the screen in your pocket. Your computer is the screen on your desk. Your tablet is a screen for the couch. This development is far from ready. Gartner suggests that now through 2018, a variety of devices, user contexts, and interaction paradigms will make “everything everywhere” strategies unachievable.
Video streaming has really become mainstream as Netflix And YouTube Account For Over 50% Of Peak Fixed Network Data In North America. Because of the rise in video services like Netflix and YouTube, peer-to-peer file-sharing has dropped (meaning less piracy of movies and TV series). Netflix remains the biggest pig in the broadband python, representing 31.6% of all downstream Internet traffic in North America during primetime hours in September — well ahead of any other streaming service. In other parts of the world, YouTube is the biggest consumer of bandwidth. In Europe, YouTube represented of 28.7% of downstream traffic.
Post HDTV resolution era seems to be coming to TVs as well in form of 4K / UltraHD. It was introduced in the 2013, and the manufacturers start to push it more in 204 because all LCD makers are looking to move their business models on from cheap mass production to higher-margin, premium offerings. They try to innovate and secure their future viability by selling fewer, but more profitable displays. On this road giant curved TVs is gaining ground: LG announces that it will present the “world’s first ” 105-inch curved ultra-hd-TV in January in Las Vegas at CES. Almost at the same time , however, Samsung also announced the proposal at CES “the world’s first and curved” 105-inch ultra HD television.. TV screens are in fact higher resolution the basic 4k level of ultra hd: Samsung and LG screens resolution is 5120 × 2160 pixels in the image (11 megapixels).
4K resolution ecosystem will get more ready for use. Netflix is testing out 4K video streaming and Netflix’s House of Cards was shot in 4K. Amazon Studios also just recently announced that it will shoot all of its 2014 shows in that format as well.
4K and 4K streaming are definitely coming in 2014 regardless of how many people can actually view it. 4K will still require a lot of work “with the compression and decode capability” to be ready for mainstream use. There are a great many things that need to happen before 4K really becomes a reality or needs to do so.
PC hardware with 4G capable graphics cards is already available, so decoding the stream is not a problem. The biggest issue is that the market penetration of 4K-capable televisions needs to grow, but to that happen the prices must drop to ranges for the average consumer. Many users have already fast enough fixed broadband connection, but can the networks handle peak usage 4K streaming? According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, it won’t require more than a stable 15 Mbps to stream 4K.
Extreme overkill resolution will also push to tablet and smart phone markets. There are already smart phones with full HD resolution. In high-end smartphones we may be moving into the overkill zone with extreme resolution that is higher than you can see on small screen: some makers have already demonstrated displays with twice the performance of 1080-progressive. Samsung is planned to release devices with 4k or UHD resolutions. As we have seen in many high tech gadget markets earlier it is a very short journey to copycat behavior. And we will see also see smart phones that can shoot 4K video.
For a long time music has been listened mainly with small portable MP3 player and such, which for most users provide “good enough” audio quality. The market had already shifted from separate MP3 players to the same functionality included to other devices (smart phones and tablets), so sales of music players sales have plummeted in year 2013 as much as as one-third. Separate music players mostly only used for listening music during fitness hobby, and growing popularity of fitness hobby is full of players saved the market from total collapse. Uncompressed music player to appreciate the need of a decent storage capacity, so some hifi people buy some high-end separate players, but that’s a small market.
Apple’s iPod continues to lead an ever-shrinking market of portable media players with a staggering 72 percent of the market for standalone music players. Apple has never been afraid of reducing demand for one of its devices by creating demand for another, in this case iPhone. The future of separate music players looks bleak.
Smartphones have taken the music player market. The growing popularity of smart phones and music streaming services will rise in the future to eat even music players sales. If smart watch will become a hit, the music player may be lost in exercisers shopping list.
1,214 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Digital GIANTS in BLOODY battle to put your EYEBALLS in a JAR
Who will capture the screen?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/04/capturing_the_digital_edge/
As consumers become ever-more attached to their gadgets – variously glued to PCs and tablets, and, after-hours, laptops, game consoles and mobiles – the gigantic digital businesses are competing with each other to capture and monopolise users’ screen time on internet-connected devices. And all of the contenders are using many monumentally large data centres and data vaults.
For the first time in human history, businesses can hope to have access to consumer eyeballs for several hours a day and become electronic comfort blankets for digital entertainment, mail, mapping, photo albums, e-tailing, search and social media – either through endpoint device capture or internet activity dominance, or both.
The influence of the “FAGAMe” group of businesses is becoming pervasive, global in scope, and capturing a hitherto unattainable amount of individual consumer spending through the colossally concentrative effects of internet access to favoured destinations.
Just six businesses are becoming the dominant internet destinations for consumer eyeballs. Here they are with their dominant consumer-facing activities:
Facebook for social media;
Apple for phones, tablets, digital entertainment and mapping;
Google for search, phones, mapping and mail;
Amazon for e-tailing and book readers and digital books;
Microsoft for desktops/notebooks, search and mail; and
eBay for e-tailing and payment
Tomi Engdahl says:
LG’s webOS TV revealed in leaked image
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/2/5265490/lgs-webos-tv-ui-photo-leak
LG has been rumored to be planning a webOS resurrection for a TV, and now a leaked image appears to offer the first look at the upcoming television.
Robert_key says:
Nice post
Tomi Engdahl says:
TOM & ISSY – A Roger Michell Film Starring Ellie Goulding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEcnQ6M8d3k
Shot entirely on a Nokia Lumia 1020.
Audio recorded with an external mic.
Video edited on Final Cut Pro.
Ellie Goulding – How Long Will I Love You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an4ySOlsUMY
Shot entirely on a Nokia Lumia 1020
Tomi Engdahl says:
ABC shutting down next day streaming for non-subscribers
http://www.itworld.com/personal-tech/398140/abc-shutting-down-next-day-streaming-non-subscribers
Just when you think Hollywood is finally starting to “get it” something like this happens. ABC has announced that starting on Monday, you’ll no longer be able to stream full episodes of shows the day after they air on cable, unless you subscribe to a participating cable service, or are a Hulu Plus subscriber.
You will still be able to stream full episodes a week after airing, which I guess is something but still feels like a step backwards.
Of course ABC wants to remind us we can always buy episodes on iTunes or Amazon Video. Or we could just go grab a torrent from somewhere, which I’m sure is what a lot of streamers will opt to do.
I guess it’s too much to hope that these big media companies will ever learn that people are willing to support them if the companies would just make it easy to do so.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AOL Sells Winamp And Shoutcast Music Services To Online Radio Aggregator Radionomy
http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/01/aol-sells-winamp-and-shoutcast-music-services-to-online-radio-aggregator-radionomy/
Some more detail on the fate of Winamp and Shoutcast, the legacy digital music services that owner AOL (which also owns TechCrunch) originally planned to shut down but then halted pending a sale.
The properties are instead being acquired by Radionomy — an international aggregator of online radio stations headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
Radionomy has some 6,000 stations in its catalog already, with an emphasis on a do-it-yourself platform that anyone can use to create a channel. Shoutcast’s 50,000-strong catalog of radio stations will be a major boost on that front.
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube’s New Year Resolution: Kill The Spinning Wheel of Death, And The H.264 Codec
Google’s 4K video codec will let viewers stream high-definition videos at half the bandwidth.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3024178/embargo-1-2-1pmet-youtubes-new-year-resolutions-kill-the-spinning-wheel-of-death-and-the-h26
People all over the world are celebrating the start of 2014 by pledging to lose weight, quit smoking, and spend less time waiting for YouTube videos to play.
Okay, that last one is mostly Google’s resolution. Today, the company announced that it will transition to a new video codec, dubbed VP9, which will reduce the size of streaming video files and thus deliver the latest episode of PewDiePie even more efficiently than ever before.
Varela says there are two approaches to improve the streaming experience. If you think of data as water going through pipes (let’s just play along for a minute), there are two ways to speed the flow: increase the size of the pipes or improve the flow of water. The former is out of Google’s control and up to the Internet providers themselves, so YouTube decided to go with the latter.
The VP9 codec, which was developed by Google, is able deliver video at about the same quality as its predecessors while halving its size. That means less …buffering as you stream. The VP9 codec was finished this past summer, but now YouTube is deploying it widely in hopes of gaining mass adoption.
The current most widely used codec, H.264, includes technology patented by a number of different companies and can require the payment of hefty licensing fees in some cases.
whether or not Google alone can make VP9 the new standard in streaming playback
partners demonstrating 4K videos streamed from YouTube are LG, Panasonic, and Sony. Those VP9-compatible sets are expected to hit the market in 2015.
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube goes 4K, Google signs up long list of hardware partners for VP9 support
http://gigaom.com/2014/01/02/youtube-4k-streaming-vp9/
Summary:
Add YouTube to the list of companies showing off 4K streaming at CES. But YouTube’s demos will be using Google’s own VP9 video codec.
YouTube will be demonstrating 4K video at CES in Las Vegas next week, with a twist: The Google-owned video service will be showing off ultra high-definition streaming based on VP9, a new royalty-free codec that Google has been developing as an alternative to the H.265 video codec that’s at the core of many other 4K implementations.
This isn’t the first time Google has tried to establish an open and royalty-free alternative to a commercial video format. Google’s VP8 video codec, which the company released in 2010, was supposed to become the default format for plugin-free video streaming and real-time communications, but those plans were thwarted by a lack of hardware support and fierce opposition from some companies with vested interest in established commercial video formats.
This time around, Google has lined up a whole list of hardware partners to kickstart VP9 deployment. YouTube will show off 4K streaming at the booths of LG, Panasonic and Sony. And on Thursday, YouTube released a list of 19 hardware partners that have pledged to support VP9, including chipset vendors like ARM, Intel, Broadcom and Marvell as well as consumer electronics heavyweights like Samsung, Sharp and Toshiba.
Varela added that this was just a first announcement around 4K for YouTube, leaving open the possibility that YouTube could add H.265 support as well.Varela added that this was just a first announcement around 4K for YouTube, leaving open the possibility that YouTube could add H.265 support as well.
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube goes 4K at CES, brings royalty free VP9 to fore front
http://www.muktware.com/2014/01/youtube-goes-4k-ces-brings-royalty-free-vp9-fore-front/18722
One good thing about Google is that unlike arch-rival Microsoft it doesn’t sit on its butt milking the cash cow without adding any value for customers.
YouTube dominates the video service and yet Google continues to make it better. When 3D was hot, Google offered 3D capabilities in YouTube videos and now Google is working on 4K in YouTube.
According to reports YouTube will demonstrate 4K videos at the upcoming CES. That’s not the best news, the best part of this story is that Google will do it using it’s own open sourced VP9 technology. Google acquired the technology from O2 and open sourced it. Google started offering the codec on royalty free basis to vendors to boost adoption.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Acquires Rapid-Fire Camera App Developer SnappyLabs
http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/04/snappylabs/
Apple has acquired the one-man photo technology startup SnappyLabs, maker of SnappyCam
invented a way to make the iPhone’s camera take full-resolution photos at 20 to 30 frames per second — significantly faster than Apple’s native iPhone camera.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Digital Music Sales Decrease For First Time in 2013
http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/5855162/digital-music-sales-decrease-for-first-time-in-2013
For the first time since the iTunes store opened its doors, the U.S. music industry finished the year with a decrease in digital music sales.
While the digital track sales decline had been expected due to weaker sales in the first three quarters, the digital album downturn comes as more of a surprise
Overall for the full year 2013, digital track sales fell 5.7% from 1.34 billion units to 1.26 billion units while digital album sales fell 0.1% to 117.6 million units
While industry executives initially refused to attribute the early signs this year of digital sales weakness to the consumer’s growing appetite for streaming, in the second half of the year many were conceding that ad-supported and paid subscription services were indeed cannibalizing digital sales.
While SoundScan has not yet released its annual streaming numbers numbers, so far industry executives have been reporting that the growth in streaming revenue has been offsetting the decline in digital sales revenue.
Despite the decline in digital album sales, download stores like iTunes gained market share growing to 40.6% of U.S album sales, while mass merchants like Target and Walmart saw sales drop 16.3% to about 78 million units and now comprise nearly 27% market share; with chain stores like Best Buy and Trans World seeing sales decline by nearly 20% to 39 million album units to comprise 13.5% market share.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Welcome to WIRED’s CES Smartphone Thunderdome
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2014/01/welcome-to-wireds-ces/
He was referring to CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, where nearly every desirable gadget on Earth lands in Las Vegas for a week of wonder. Companies will strike countless million- and billion-dollar deals; gadget-makers will show off their latest creations to fanfare and yawns; and journalists will fall: sick, exhausted, dehydrated, hung over, emotionally damaged for life.
This year at CES, our core crew of reporters can use only their phones to cover the show. No DSLRS, no laptops. No fancy compact-system cameras or iPads. Just phones.
We’ll call it our CES Mobile Challenge Smartphone Superchallenge Smartphone Thunderdome. And to make it more interesting, no two reporters will use the same brand of handset–or even the same platform.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix’s dumbed-down algorithms
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2014/01/03/netflixs-dumbed-down-algorithms/
“Netflix has meticulously analyzed and tagged every movie and TV show imaginable. They possess a stockpile of data about Hollywood entertainment that is absolutely unprecedented…”
“When these tags are combined with millions of users viewing habits, they become Netflix’s competitive advantage. The company’s main goal as a business is to gain and retain subscribers…”
Netflix’s big problem, it seems to me, is that it can’t afford the content that its subscribers most want to watch. It could try to buy streaming rights to every major Hollywood blockbuster in history — but doing so would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and could never be recouped with $7.99 monthly fees.
As a result, Netflix can’t, any longer, aspire to be the service which allows you to watch the movies you want to watch.
So Netflix has been forced to attempt a distant second-best: scouring its own limited library for the films it thinks you’ll like, rather than simply looking for the specific movies which it knows (because you told it) that you definitely want to watch. This, from a consumer perspective, is not an improvement.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Scanners Capture Clear Images in Darkness
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=270695&cid=nl.dn14&dfpPParams=ind_184,industry_auto,industry_medical,aid_270695&dfpLayout=blog
Taking 3D scans in the dark or low-light conditions was once nearly impossible. Take Microsoft’s first Kinect, for example — it works best in dim conditions with even lighting throughout the room in which it is used. Forget about using it in dark rooms because the sensor is incapable of finding the subject, unless, of course, the Kinect was modified with a night-vision lens. MIT researchers have recently solved that problem with the development of two new 3D scanners capable of capturing images in total darkness.
The first scanner, dubbed the First-Photon Imaging system, works in a way similar to a lidar scanner (found in autonomous vehicles and some land surveying equipment).
The more reflective the target, the fewer photon bursts are needed, which makes the system highly energy efficient. While that’s certainly impressive, it’s the researcher’s algorithm that produces the magic. Photons can sometimes stray when bounced off a target, which results in what’s known as background noise. The algorithm filters out that background noise and stitches each reflected photon pixel together, resulting in a high-resolution 3D image.
The second 3D scanner to come out from MIT is known simply as the nano-camera
The camera uses the same Time of Flight technology in Microsoft’s newest Kinect sensor, in which the position of an object is calculated by the time it takes for light to bounce back from a target to the camera. Unlike other devices that use the ToF technology, MIT’s nano-camera imaging system isn’t affected by adverse conditions such as rain, fog, darkness, or even the translucence of an object.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel makes gesture recognition push with RealSense launch
Platform will aim to improve depth and movement sensing
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/07/intel_makes_gesture_recognition_push_with_realsense_launch/
CES 2014 Intel has launched a series of cameras aimed at spearheading growth and development in the gesture and movement recognition fields.
The company said that its RealSense 3D cameras would add a depth-sensing component to traditional 2D camera hardware.
The first model in the RealSense 3D line will sport a 1080p resolution camera and will feature 3D scanning capabilities as well as gesture recognition abilities. The company plans to integrate the hardware into OEM desktop and notebook lines as well as mobile tablet and 2-in-1 systems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mozilla partners with Panasonic to bring Firefox OS to the TV, details progress on tablet and desktop versions
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/01/06/mozilla-partners-panasonic-bring-firefox-os-tv-details-work-tablet-desktop-versions/#!rCjIf
At CES 2014 in Las Vegas today, Mozilla announced its plans for Firefox OS this year. Having launched Firefox OS for smartphones in 2013, the company has now partnered with Panasonic to bring its operating system to TVs, and also detailed the progress that has been made around the tablet and desktop versions.
We asked Panasonic why it agreed to go with Firefox OS. “There are no other alternatives that are truly open,” Merwan Mereby, Panasonic’s US Vice President Interactive Content & Services Group, told us.
With Firefox OS, however, Mereby argues that “anyone can compete”, as you can operate your own marketplace. Not only can Panasonic open up its own marketplace for apps and content, but those who want to build apps and sell content can bypass marketplaces and make their offerings directly to Firefox OS users.
While the partnership is not exclusive, Panasonic will be the first to release next-generation smart TVs powered by Firefox OS. Mozilla and Panasonic will work together to promote Firefox OS and its open ecosystem on the big screen.
The fact that Mozilla only managed to get Panasonic on board as a TV partner is telling. Firefox OS for TVs is clearly still very immature.
Tomi Engdahl says:
EU Copyright Reform: Your Input Is Needed!
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/14/01/06/2327224/eu-copyright-reform-your-input-is-needed
“The European Commission has finally (as of last month) opened its public consultation on copyright reform.”
“Anyone, EU citizen or not, organization or company, is invited to respond (deadline fifth of February).”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Copyright consultation – model responses
https://ameliaandersdotter.eu/copyright-consultation-model-responses
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netgear’s HDMI Dongle Is Your Storage-Friendly Answer to Chromecast
http://gizmodo.com/netgears-hdmi-dongle-is-your-storage-friendly-answer-t-1495333963
While Google’s Chromecast might seem poised become the quintessential universal streaming device, it’s taking a hell of a long time to get there. So in the meantime, Netgear’s new NeoMediacast dongle is picking up where Chromecast left off by offering streaming content with Micro SD storage capabilities—assuming you’re an Android user, that is.
The Miracast-enabled dongle is compatible with any device running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean or above, meaning that you should be able to sling all your favorite streaming services directly onto your TV right out of the box. Unlike Chromecast, though, you’re not just limited to what you have floating in the cloud; the NeoMediacast comes fully equipped with a Micro USB and Micro SD slot for additional storage and playback.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony’s new UHD TVs are built to support Netflix in 4K when it arrives
http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/06/sony-4k-tv-range-2014-netflix/
3D? Pah. 2014 is the year that 4K makes its first grand assault upon the mainstream. Naturally, Sony is one of the names leading the charge, and is bolstering the 4K support it added to the Video Unlimited service back in September. The company’s new range of UHD TVs will now pull down 4K video from a variety of sources, but most importantly, will work with Netflix’s forthcoming native 4K streaming.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung announces major 4K streaming partnership with Amazon, Netflix, and others
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/6/5280360/samsung-announces-4k-streaming-deal-with-amazon-netflix
In addition to inking a deal with Technicolor’s M-GO streaming service, Samsung today announced a major partnership with Netflix, Amazon, Comcast, and DirecTV to provide 4K streaming to consumers via their latest UHD TVs. The company hopes that the deal will speed up widespread adoption of 4K in 2014.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Improve Hollywood in 2014: 9 Experts on the Future of Film and TV
http://www.thewrap.com/improve-hollywood-9-experts-future-film-tv/
Brian Robbins, Bob Greenblatt, Wesley Morris and others discuss the changes impacting the business and the opportunities in the digital space
From a distance, the Hollywood sign has never shone brighter.
The box office will hit record numbers this year and television continues to be a cash cow. Yet, a digital economy that roiled the industry continues to sweep away old business models. In some cases, these newer forms of distribution and production are leading to more creativity and innovation. Often, they also mean less money to go around.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forget curved TV – Bendable TV sets were presented
One of the first curved TVs introduced last year, the consumer electronics giant’s CES event in Las Vegas. This year, the curved TVs are starting to become everyday wear and CES in a number of major acquisitions for future models.
Samsung and LG have already taken the next step. The companies will present at CES in bendable televisions, whose curvature can be changed.
Samsung: The user does not bend the TV yourself, but the curvature of the device is governed by its own motor and remote control. Push of a button changes the TV model curved straight to TV. The user can control the degree of curvature.
LG’s TV idea is similar, but the screen size is a bit smaller, 77 inches, or 1.96 meters.
Bendability is possible because of use of OLED display technology.
LG believes that the bendability of television technology is the next step after the curvature.
It remains to be seen, however, what time-frame technology becomes more widespread. Samsung and LG models are apparently only a prototype devices.
Source:
Tietokone
http://www.tietokone.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/unohda_kaareva_tv_taivuteltavia_televisioita_esiteltiin
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ricoh to Market Mass-produced Imaging Device for Fully Spherical Imagery
Sales begin in various markets next month for general consumers
https://theta360.com/en/info/news/2013-09-05/
Tokyo and Berlin, 5 September 2013, Ricoh Company, Ltd. announced today the launch of the RICOH THETA, the world’s first mass-produced imaging device that encapsulates fully spherical scenes with one shot. The handheld device, to be sold at a base price of USD 399, will be available for preorder this month in France, Germany, the UK and the US at theta360.com.
The RICOH THETA features a proprietary ultra-small twin-lens folded optical system that captures the scene around, above and below the device in one shot for unprecedented, fully spherical images. Fitting easily in a pocket or the palm of a hand, the slim, lightweight (95-gram) RICOH THETA is a go-anywhere device suited to confined spaces, the great outdoors and everywhere in between.
The device is synchronized with smartphones, where images can be immediately transmitted via Wi-Fi® and viewed with a dedicated free app.
At launch, the RICOH THETA will be compatible with the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 running on iOS™ 6.0 or above, supported by RICOH THETA for iPhone, a free iOS app available at App StoreSM. Android™ compatibility is expected before the end of the year.
“The RICOH THETA enables people to capture, explore and share their creativity and new visions of life,” said Wataru Ohtani, associate director of Ricoh’s New Business Development Center.
“The RICOH THETA isn’t just a big step forward in panoramic photography,” according to Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft, and Architect of Photosynth. “It changes the nature of photography itself: You can shoot first and crop later, or share the full sphere including the photographer. It’s an exciting product, and Microsoft is proud to be partnering with Ricoh by integrating support for the RICOH THETA in the Photosynth mobile app.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
I’ve seen the future of car radio – and DAB isn’t in it
BMW’s cable-free, dongle-free music streamer
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/07/ive_seen_the_future_of_car_radio_and_dab_isnt_in_it/
Last month BMW rolled out the first cars to come with a fully integrated on-demand music-streaming service built in.
I was forced to conclude that things look ominous for digital radio, which is likely to be squeezed harder as on-demand services like this become more commonplace.
For this particular service, no cables are required and it includes a subscription deal that gives the buyer roaming access to the service, built for BMW by Rara, across five European countries including the UK at no extra cost.
Now on with the experience. Pistonheads will likely know all about BMW’s ConnectedDrive Online Entertainment service, with its very well thought-out UI. It’s nicely designed for distraction free driving, with a HUD and the ability to control the music from the steering wheel. What’s new about the Rara integration is that it’s completely built-in and truly on demand. You don’t have to pre-program it via a smartphone – although that’s a sensible option I expect a lot of people will use.
Rara is a brand owned by Omnifone, one of the oldest kids on the block for digital music, with years of experience doing wholesale deals for the likes of Sony and BlackBerry.
Tracks stream in at 48kbit/s with 64kbit/s Dolby Pulse due later this year.
The bitrate is a trade-off in making the whole system more responsive, as 3G coverage is far from ubiquitous, and in dense areas the backhaul gets hammered. The bitrate is a trade-off in making the whole system more responsive, as 3G coverage is far from ubiquitous, and in dense areas the backhaul gets hammered.
I found it hard to see what benefit integrating iOS or Android into the head unit would actually bring the user, as BMW has made the overall UX so slick.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Polaroid’s Socialmatic Camera Is All About Sharing Your Shots
http://gizmodo.com/polaroids-socialmatic-camera-is-all-about-sharing-your-1495831744
We were cautiously optimistic when the concept for the real-life Instagram camera, the Socialmatic, popped up online last year. Now, despite a few concerns, Polaroid is officially making the design a reality. The company is partnering with Socialmatic, and when the camera is available this fall, it will allow photographers to either instantly share their shots on “major social media networks” or just run off a hard copy using the device’s built-in instant ZINK printer.
The Socialmatic features a 14-megapixel sensor up front for most of your photography needs, and a much smaller two-megapixel sensor on the back for snapping and sharing selfies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony announces PlayStation Now, its cloud gaming service for TVs, consoles, and phones
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/7/5284294/sony-announces-playstation-now-cloud-gaming
The PlayStation 4 may not be the most important part of Sony’s gaming strategy anymore. At CES 2014, Sony has just announced PlayStation Now, a service that will bring streaming PlayStation games not only to PS4, but also PS3, PlayStation Vita, and even televisions, tablets, and smartphones.
It’s the company’s public-facing brand for Gaikai, the cloud gaming technology it purchased in June of 2012, which the company previously said would bring PS3 games to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita later this year. Sony says the technology is already working here at CES
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony CEO Kaz Hirai says cloud TV won’t compete with cable, 4K adoption could take seven years
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/7/5285310/sony-ceo-kaz-hirai-says-cloud-tv-wont-compete-with-cable-4k-adoption
When asked about the company’s 4K push in both content and technology, Hirai sees a slow climb to mainstream adoption. “How long did HD take?” Hirai asked, as he suggested mainstream adoption of 4K could take five to seven years. Sony doesn’t see its 4K business as only for the mainstream, however — Hirai pointed out that early adopters are very much a part of its plans, and the need to get those adopters into retail stores to see the difference between HD and 4K is crucial to the selling process.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony announces internet TV service, plans to start testing it later this year
http://gigaom.com/2014/01/07/sony-cloud-tv-service/
Sony wants to launch its own online TV service with a cloud DVR and live TV feeds. The service will scheduled to go into testing in the U.S. later this year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Silicon Valley’s New Spy Satellites
Three startups are launching services—and orbiters—to provide real-time, better-than-Google imagery of the Earth.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/silicon-valleys-new-spy-satellites/282580/
Imagine an energy company which manages a pipeline through Canada’s taiga. The company’s charged with maintaining that pipeline, with making sure it isn’t leaking and hasn’t been compromised. So, every day, the company pays a local to get in a plane and fly over the otherwise inert, massive metal tube, looking for objects, organic or otherwise, that shouldn’t be there.
Or that’s what they’ve done for many years. Five years from now, that pilot might be out of a job. Tiny satellites, whizzing over head in low Earth orbit, could photograph every meter of the pipeline. It won’t seem like anyone’s nearby, but, should a truck or stain appear on the ice, a system administrator in Houston would get a text message warning of a problem.
Humans began photographing their home planet from space in a scientifically useful way about a half-century ago. Now the images are ubiquitous: On a web search, in a phone app, on the news, we see the browns and blues that denote pictures taken from the sky.
Larsen leads Urthecast. It’s one of a cadre of startups—three are now out of stealth mode—tossing cameras out of the atmosphere and trying to turn them into a business. Each of the three is choosing different methods, different kinds of devices, and different orbits. Each is selling something a little different. They are Urthecast, Planet Labs, and Skybox.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CES: Sony outs Playstation Now as PS4 sales surpass four million
Cloud-based service will allow gamers to play Playstation titles on smartphones and tablets
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2321515/ces-sony-outs-playstation-now-as-ps4-sales-surpass-four-million
JAPANESE HARDWARE MAKER Sony unveiled Playstation Now at CES on Tuesday, a service that will allow gamers to play Playstation titles on a smartphone, tablet or smart TV device.
“It will also introduce the world of Playstation to non-console owners, via Sony smartphone and tablet devices. We are paving the way for gamers to play wherever, whenever.”
Sony also announced on Tuesday that it will launch a cloud-based TV service in the US this year
Tomi Engdahl says:
Retrotechtacular: Tube Amplifiers
http://hackaday.com/2014/01/07/retrotechtacular-tube-amplifiers/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Blu-ray Encryption—Why Most People Pirate Movies
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/blu-ray-encryption%E2%80%94why-most-people-pirate-movies
Unless I’ve missed an announcement, there still isn’t a “proper” way for Linux users to watch Blu-ray movies on their computers. It’s hard enough with Windows or Macintosh, but when it comes to Linux, it seems that turning to the dark side is the only option. In the spirit of freedom, let me point you in the direction of “how”, and leave it up to you to decide whether it’s a road you want to travel.
Once you compile MakeMKV, you should be able to use it to extract the Blu-ray disc to your computer. Be warned, the file is enormous, and you’ll most likely want to compress it a bit.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ASUS unveils 28-inch, $799 4K display targeting price-sensitive pros
http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/06/asus-28-inch-4k-display/
ASUS’ 31.5-inch 4K monitor may be the ideal display for many content creators, but a typical asking price over $3,000 rules it out for all but the most affluent. Much to our relief, the company is bringing the cost of its technology closer to Earth with a new 28-inch display, the PB287Q. It touts the extra-sharp 3,840 x 2,160 resolution of its bigger sibling, just in a smaller and cheaper form factor.
the PB287Q will ship in the second quarter for $799
Tomi Engdahl says:
CES 2014: New era of inexpensive 4K monitors from Asus, Lenovo and Seiki ushered in
http://9to5mac.com/2014/01/06/ces-2014-new-era-of-inexpensive-4k-monitors-from-asus-lenovo-and-seiki-ushered-in/
With the new Mac Pro capable of powering three 4k displays, new MacBook Pros with Thunderbolt 2 and 4K HDMI 1.4 in many hands and Apple taking its sweet time to release its own monitor, an affordable 4k display is something many people are searching out right now. ASUS, at the Consumer Electronics Show, has just unveiled a new 28-inch 4k monitor that will retail for just $799. Currently, ASUS’ 31.5-inch 4k offering comes in at over $3,000
Tomi Engdahl says:
Polaroid debuting $1,000 4K TV at CES
http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/02/polaroid-tv/
Polaroid’s been struggling with a bit of an identity crisis since the halcyon days of instant photography. Did you know, for example, that the company’s been putting its name on TVs? Polaroid’s celebrating CES with the release of two ambitious (if not particularly memorably named) sets at extremely low price point.
a mere $600 will get you a 50-inch set with a Roku Streaming Stick built-in
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony seeks mojo reboot with 147-inch ‘honey-you-can’t-afford-me’ 4K home projector
The price tag for ‘wow-inspiring’ kit? It’s ultra high dosh…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/08/sony_introduces_147_inch_ultra_short_throw_projector/
CES 2014 Certain products exist to burnish a company’s image rather than fatten its bottom line, and Sony’s new 4K Ultra Short Throw Projector, able to project ultra-high definition video images of up to 147 inches on any wall, is a shining example.
And how much will it cost to plop this 2,000 lumen, laser diode–illuminated, window-on-the-world credenza into your living room when it becomes available in the US this summer? Sony doesn’t yet know, saying only that the price will be “approximately $30,000 to $40,000″.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony Doesn’t Have the Deals It Needs for Web TV — But That’s Not Its Real Problem
http://recode.net/2014/01/07/sony-doesnt-have-the-deals-it-needs-for-web-tv-but-thats-not-its-real-problem/
Last year, Intel said it was going to deliver pay TV over the Web by the end of 2013. That didn’t work out.
Now Sony says it will deliver pay TV over the Web sometime in 2014. Can it deliver?
Maybe!
Right now, Sony doesn’t seem to be any closer to its goal of “over the top” TV than Intel. That is: While the company has been talking to various networks and programmers about deals to carry their shows
I can’t find anyone who says they’ve finalized a pact. That includes Sony’s own movie and TV studio.
So unless Sony gets all of those deals done — or at least a big chunk of them — it can’t sell Web TV.
But there are more than 100 million pay-TV customers in the U.S., and they’ve put up with lousy tech for a long time. They’re even willing to wade through that terrible tech to watch video on demand, in increasing numbers — because they like (some) of the stuff that’s on TV, regardless of how difficult it is to get it.
So just selling the same stuff, on a different pipe, with a nicer menu, seems like a tough task.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vimeo speeds its online videos, goes HTML5 by default
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57616770-93/vimeo-speeds-its-online-videos-goes-html5-by-default/
The online video site has overhauled its video player for shorter waits for video, better sharing, and more accessibility and Web standards support.
Vimeo has sped up its video-streaming technology and made the shift from Flash-powered video to HTML5 by default, the company said Tuesday.
The new player software improves performance, social links, and post-production capabilities, Vimeo Chief Technology Officer Andrew Pile told CNET. It loads in half the time — not only when the video player populates on a Web page, but also when people click the play button.
Faster performance generally helps Web-based businesses — Vimeo’s new on-demand video-purchasing program through which people can rent or own videos, for example.
The new player also makes it easier for people sell video right from the player when teaser videos are shown. “With the addition of this ‘buy now’ button on the trailer, everywhere the video travels, there is an instant call to buy that comes with it,” Mellancamp said.
Two thorny issues still complicate HTML5 video, though. One is digital rights management (DRM), which lets content owners encrypt video and audio to curtail copying. Another is the choice of codec — the technology used to compress video and audio.
HTML5 standardized how to send video, but didn’t specify which code was to be used. Google’s open-source, royalty-free VP8 and newer VP9 codecs are one option, but most of the tech industry — especially those in the video world — preferred a royalty-bearing standard called H.264.
Google said it would eventually phase H.264 support out of Chrome, and Mozilla was a strong VP8 advocate, but H.264 won out: Google backed off its decision, and Mozilla added H.264 support by drawing on modern operating systems’ built-in support.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TiVo Moves Storage Of TV Shows Into The Cloud With New Network DVR Service
http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/07/tivo-network-dvr/
DVR manufacturer TiVo has spent most of the last 15 years building hardware that would allow consumers to record their favorite TV shows and watch them later. Now the company is working toward building products that would let consumers save their favorite shows not on a hard drive in a box, but up in the cloud.
With the network DVR, TiVo will be able to deliver the same consistent UI to users without having to have a hard drive in its set-top boxes. That will dramatically lower the cost of producing hardware, and it offers all sorts of new pricing and business models on top of its service.
It’s important to note that TiVo’s network DVR won’t be offered directly to consumers. Instead the company is planning to partner with cable, satellite, and IPTV providers to roll out the new service. And those partners will, in turn, will make the cloud-enabled network DVR service available to their subscribers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The INQUIRER Android Experiment: Episode Two
The Droids are alive with the sound of music
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/feature/2321210/the-inquirer-android-experiment-episode-two
I’ve been a DJ for 20 years, though never a very good one. My attitude, even in my heyday, was squarely one of “get drunk, play records, mix badly, threaten to sacrifice kittens if anyone asks me for a request”.
I have been a laptop jock for a decade of that, so it matters to me whether or not I can do the same on Android.
Trendy bars in Hoxton seem to have their share of iPad jocks, and I’m pleased to say that I have managed to do the same. The Griffin DJ cable is now compatible with some Android packages.
I’m using DJ Studio (free and premium versions available) and it more or less does what it says on the tin. It’s no substitute for vinyl, but the tactile nature of a touchscreen is a lot more realistic than the mouse and cursor experience I’ve battled with in recent years. The cable, incidentally, allows you to split the output from your phone so you can prefade music in your headphones, which is essential for the beatmatching that I am terrible at anyway.
If you’re feeling more adventurous, I might add that the iRig range, which includes a guitar preamp, professional microphone and mixing desk, has gained Android compatibility in recent months. You can try the iRig App (free) now, with premium options available when you’re feeling brave as a bedroom composer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dell Wasn’t Joking About That 28-Inch Sub-$1000 4K Monitor; It’s Only $699
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/01/07/dell-wasnt-joking-about-that-28-inch-sub-1000-4k-monitor-its-only-699/
Last month Dell launched a pair of UltraSharp monitors boasting 4K resolution, and dangled a sweet carrot in front of our early adopting paws: a forthcoming 28-inch Ultra HD monitor that would retail for less than $1000. Today at CES 2014 Dell revealed it, along with an aggressive price tag: $699.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ThinkFilm, a Short-Lived but Wily Distributor, Still Influences Industry
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/06/business/media/thinkfilm-a-short-lived-but-wily-distributor-still-influences-industry.html?pagewanted=all
ThinkFilm, a small, short-lived movie distributor, briefly took the indie world by storm with provocative fare like “Half Nelson,”
When it closed most operations in 2008, as financial carnage hit the independent film business, it seemed destined to become just another relic of the art-house movement.
Yet ThinkFilm’s influence lives on. Its alumni have become a force in an industry that has been learning to think smaller, make do with less and live more by wit than a fat bankroll.
Nearly a dozen companies, many of which will be wheeling and dealing at Sundance, are rooted in the diaspora created by ThinkFilm’s demise.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Haters of lurid supershow CES: The consumer tech market is still SHRINKING
Good news if you’re sick of the annual seething mass of throwaway gizmos
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/08/consumer_electronics_market_set_to_shrink/
Market research firm IHS forecasts that worldwide manufacturing revenues in the consumer electronics (CE) market will drop about two per cent
“While exciting new technologies such as ultra-high-definition [televisions] and wearable devices are being shown at CES, it will take a few years until these products attain enough of a volume to drive the growth of the overall CE market,”
“Until these products enter the mainstream, traditional CE revenue will continue to dwindle.”
Massive TV sets and wearable devices dominated headlines at this year’s show
The analysts also predict that while the CE market will be slow this year, many of the UHD lines showcased in Las Vegas will claim as much as 16 per cent of the LCD market by 2018.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Einstein’s Camera
How one renegade photographer is hacking the concept of time.
https://medium.com/p/88aa8a185898
ADAM MAGYAR IS A computer geek, a college dropout, a self-taught photographer, a high-tech Rube Goldberg, a world traveler, and a conceptual artist of growing global acclaim.
At the time, Magyar was immersed in a long-running techno-art project called Stainless, creating high-resolution images of speeding subway trains and their passengers, using sophisticated software he created and hardware that he retrofitted himself. The scanning technique he developed—combining thousands of pixel-wide slices into a single image—allows him to catch passengers unawares as they hurtle through dark subway tunnels, fixing them in haunting images filled with detail no ordinary camera can capture.
“I wanted to get out of conventional photography,”
“In Zen you can train for five years before you shoot a bow and arrow. And that describes exactly what Adam does. Time doesn’t exist for him.”
He invested in a high-quality industrial camera and a “line scan” device designed to capture high-resolution images of circuit boards, bottle tops, or other fast-moving objects on assembly lines
The resulting line-scan camera uses a single row of light-sensitive sensors to constantly scan moving objects at high speed, eliminating most distortion.
“You start paying attention to how these people interact with their technology, and how they barely interact with each other,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amazon, Hollywood, Samsung: PLEASE get excited about 4K telly
Etailer ‘n’ pals push ultra high def TV to consumers: Just a small bite. C’mon
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/07/amazon_to_push_4k_tv/
Amazon has announced that it’s teaming up with Samsung Electronics and media firms like Warner Bros and Lionsgate to try to drum up consumer interest in “4K” ultra high-def tellies.
“There are a number of elements that need to work together to create a true 4K experience for customers — you need great content and compatible devices but you also need a service that can deliver that content to your devices so that it plays beautifully — we’re excited about making that a reality,” Amazon’s veep of digital video and music Bill Carr said rather vaguely.
The larger-than-life 4K format is so-called as it’s about 4k pixels across – at 3,840 x 2,160 pixels it contains a whopping 8.3 million picture elements
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sharp glass-free 3D TV and 8k in one package – “The best I’ve seen”
Which is a technology demos at the fair, which will not end up in the shops. But those manufacturers to showcase their skills and give a taste of what may be coming later. 8k-precision 3D TV will be just like this.
Sharp has already presented, in itself a very very nice accurate, 8k on the screen. There was also still present, but now the feature list was successful in bringing the 3D yet, even without the glasses as a functioning version.
3D without the glasses always eats part of the resolution. 8k-screen 7680 x 4320 pixel resolution is enough to lose some part of it, so this round of the demo was definitely the most accurate
Thus, Sharp has done a good job Demonstration in front of their equipment, but not even this is not enough to convince the actual performance of glass-free 3D.
Source: MBnet
http://www.mbnet.fi/artikkeli/ajankohtaiset/ajassa/sharpin_lasiton_3d_televisio_ja_8k_samassa_paketissa_paras_nakemani
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sales of Digital Movies Surge
Delaying Availability of DVDs, Rentals Nudged Consumers
http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304887104579306440621142958-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNzEwNDcyWj
After years of trying to convince consumers to buy movies online, Hollywood found a solution in 2013: Make it the only option.
Digital movie purchases surged 47% last year to $1.19 billion, according to data released by Digital Entertainment Group, an industry trade group. It was the fastest-growing category as total home-entertainment revenue inched up 0.7% to $18.22 billion.
Digital growth just barely made up for ongoing declines in sales and rentals of physical discs. The total U.S. home-entertainment market remains well below its peak of more than $22 billion 2004, a drop that has squeezed the profits of every studio and led to widespread cost cutting.
Still, strides in digital-movie sales are encouraging to studios. And a primary reason for the accelerating growth in online sales is the widespread adoption of a new release window marketed as “Digital HD.” For one to four weeks before a movie becomes available on DVD or to rent online, studios make new movies available to purchase from digital stores like Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store and Amazon.com Inc. in high definition.
“That’s a significant portion of the growth we’ve seen,”
the biggest change is people who would have rented a movie but now, unwilling to wait, are buying it instead
Online movie sales are studios’ highest-profit-margin transaction, along with Blu-ray discs, which is why they have aggressively pushed the format.
Universal’s ‘Despicable Me 2,’ which was available to buy online for two weeks before its DVD release, was the best-selling title online of 2013.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CES 2014: Now You Can Make 360 Degree Videos With a Single Camera (Video)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/01/09/1730244/ces-2014-now-you-can-make-360-degree-videos-with-a-single-camera-video
The device that does this is the Geonaute 360 Degree Camera.
But GoPo has a bunch of slick YouTube videos, too, and at this point they’re the dominant brand in the action camera market niche. Will Geonaute be able to capture a decent market share with their 360 degree coolness — and higher price?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hisense’s Pulse Pro Android TV box looks like the next generation of Google TV
http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-media-receivers/hisense-pulse-pro/4505-6739_7-35834105.html
Google TV may not officially be dead, but it sure looks like it’s evolving into something else.
Hisense is showing a nifty little set-top box at CES 2014 called the Pulse Pro, running software called “Android TV v4.” It’s not exactly Google TV, but it’s clearly built on the same foundation, with the same PrimeTime Guide and the ability to run Google TV apps.