TWISTER: goggle-free 3D rotating panoramic display

from Engadget by Darren Murph

In a device eerily akin to teleportation machines seen in major motion pictures (seriously, check it after the break), the Telexistence Wide-angle Immersive STEReoscope aims to "immerse viewers in a 3D video environment" sans those pesky goggles. Developed by a team at the University of Toyko, TWISTER is being hailed as the "world's first full-color 360-degree 3D display that does not require viewers to wear special glasses," and it's finally coming together after a decade of work. Within the cylindrical, rotating device, you'll find some 50,000 LEDs that give off the illusion of a three-dimensional object without any ocular aids. Moreover, the team is already looking into the possibility of adding 3D videophone technology to spruce up video telephony, but we'd be totally content with a couple rounds of Halo in this thing.

[Via PinkTentacle]

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FreshBooks Launches Open API

from TechCrunch by Duncan Riley

Online invoicing service FreshBooks has launched an open API.

Freshbooks sees the new API allowing application designers, businesses, services companies, and users to integrate FreshBooks’ billing platform into a new category of products, features, and solutions for enhancing and streamlining productivity, workflow, sales, CRM, project management, and invoicing.

Possible uses of the API including adding to existing products to extend functionality, including timers, project planners, and desktop widgets. Sites with an existing sales infrastructure can use the API to add a billing component.

There are a lot of possibilities here and Freshbooks really has nothing to lose by offering an open API service. The API is an open invitation to innovation and should keep Freshbooks in could stead against competition including BillMyClients and Blinksale.

Previous Freshbooks coverage on TechCrunch coverage here.

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HotorNot Founder James Hong Talks About Past, Future

from TechCrunch by Michael Arrington

Read this excellent post by James Hong, co-founder of the nearly seven year-old startup HotorNot. He talks about the history of the startup, and touches on where it might be going in the future.

A lot of this I wrote about last month after interviewing Hong, but there’s lot of additional information that people will find fascinating. The company naver raised venture capital, and was throwing off a signficiant amount of cash early on. As free dating competitors emerged, however, the popularity of the site declined. They responded by going free as well (killing a $500,000/month revenue stream), and traffic has doubled to around 20 million daily page views.

HotorNot is now looking more like a a traditional startup - they’ve converted to a C corporation and are giving stock options to employees. That suggests a sale or venture financing might be coming up in the near future. Of course, the amount of fun that Hong and cofounder Jim Young are having.

My favorite stat about HotorNot: Up to ten marriages per day can be tracked to couples who originally met at the site.

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Earthmine's photo-truck totally tries to one-up Google, Microsoft

from Engadget by Nilay Patel

Street level mapping services like Google's Street View and Microsoft's Live Local have gotten a lot of attention lately, but while the notion of pervasive map-linked photography is pretty impressive, the actual execution leaves something to be desired -- the images are occasionally of low quality, have stitching errors, and there are some lingering privacy concerns. A new company called Earthmine is out to solve all those problems, though, by providing high-quality, survey-accurate panoramic photography -- and has a truck or two with cameras towering tall to prove it. Unlike Google's video system, Earthmine plans to use laser range finders and high dynamic range still cameras mounted higher than usual to provide perspective-accurate images that preserve detail and resolution -- but automatically blur out faces and other identifying information, like license plates. Earthmine is planning on selling the service to businesses and governmental agencies, but a consumer version should launch at the end of the summer. We think they should watch out though, we hear the Street View and Live Local drivers have crazy road rage; we really wouldn't want to see anybody from Earthmine get caught up in some kind of weird, street level photography turf war. [Thanks, eggman]

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A Beautiful Photo from our friends at LuckyOliver

purchased for use on blogs. This is an example of a 400x400 px image.

search for LuckyOliver images through the PictureSandbox interface - when you find an image you like, click the blue arrow to go to the LuckyOliver page

or go directly to LuckyOliver.com to search and buy there.

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