Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, January 16, 2012

drag2share: Want to See Every Tree in America? [Science]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5876091/want-to-see-every-tree-in-america

We may sing about purple mountains and amber grains, but one of America's most vital resources is its vast amount of carbon-catching, oxygen-spewing trees. Now, after six years of effort, NASA knows how many we've got.

Josef Kellndorfer and Wayne Walker of Woods Hole Research Center worked in conjunction with the National Geological Survey and US Forest Service to catalog a mix of data gleaned from space-based radar, satellite sensors, computer models, and old-fashioned tree counting. The map above shows the total amount of woody biomass in the USA. It's displayed at a 30 meter resolution, where every four pixels constitutes an acre and every ten represents a hectare. [NASA Earth Observatory via Business Insider via Geekosystem]

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drag2share: Guy Creates Realistic Photoshop Simulator For the Web [Photoshop]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5876104/guy-creates-realistic-photoshop-simulator-for-the-web

Wow, I am blown away by this! A programmer over at Visual Idiot has created a perfect simulation of Photoshop that runs in your web browser. It's only been tested under Chrome, but it should work in other browsers too.

Coded with only HTML 5, CSS3 and jQuery/Javascript, this web-based version of Photoshop functions exactly like Adobe's flagship product does under OS X. It's the perfect alternative when you're using a computer that doesn't have Photoshop installed, so I suggest you head on over and take it for a spin. [Visual Idiot via PetaPixel]

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: TI's wireless charger for tablets does amazing things with electrons, sticky tape

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/14/tis-wireless-charger-for-tablets-does-amazing-things-with-elect/

Either TI has the hots for Arduino in a big way, or its latest wireless charging kit isn't quite ready for mass production. When it does arrive, however, it promises to do away with those cumbersome specialized sleeves and back covers that are currently needed for inductive charging. Instead, it'll deliver efficient in a package that's small enough to be installed as part of a device's internal circuitry. In addition to the Qi-standard 5W version we glimpsed a while back, the company is also working on a 10W variant for the iPad 2 and other tablets, which could wipe the smile off LaunchPort's face and perhaps make MicroUSB 3.0 superfluous before it even gets here.

TI's wireless charger for tablets does amazing things with electrons, sticky tape originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Oregon Scientific's App In Sports watches sync with your phone, grab apps from it

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/14/oregon-scientifics-app-in-sports-watches-sync-with-your-phone/

One of the many new products we spotted at Oregon Scientific's CES booth was the App In Sports range of watches. As the name suggests, these wearables can link up to your Android phone (via ANT+ wireless connection) to grab up to three app profiles, and the range of profiles available depend on the model of the watches due to their different sensors: for the RA900 (Expedition) you get cardio, weather, hiking and sleep; whereas the SE900 offers coach, running, workout and sleep. More profiles will be made available, though it's not clear whether they'll make it before or after the watches launch in a few months time. Either way, users will need to install the matching Android apps according to their watch models, but both apps can sync with the watches for exercise summary data (including heart rate, exercise time, distance and speed). Demo video after the break.

Gallery: Oregon Scientific's App in Sports watches

Continue reading Oregon Scientific's App In Sports watches sync with your phone, grab apps from it

Oregon Scientific's App In Sports watches sync with your phone, grab apps from it originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: JVC's GY-HMQ10 4K Camcorder hands-on (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/15/jvcs-gy-hmq10-4k-camcorder-hands-on-video/

We felt compelled to get our hands onto JVC's 4K-resolution-shooting camcorder. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) the company wasn't letting us take footage with the kit, but we were allowed plenty of unsupervised time with the device. You'll notice how retro this whole thing looks -- the hefty unit is placed in a housing that wouldn't be out of place with a VHS-C camcorder from the early '90s. There's no mount for additional lenses (the $10,000 Red Scarlet uses interchangeable Canon lenses), which means that you won't have any flexibility if you need to set up a complex shot on the fly. The test unit came with a hot-shoe adapter that included dual XLR inputs and a shotgun mic, but we expect this to be an added extra at retail. The zooming is smooth (we couldn't hear any motor noise) and when we screwed with the manual focus, it was able to snap back to clarity within three seconds. We're a little concerned about who the camera is aimed at: it lacks the flexibility that the Red would offer but it seems a little hefty (it's $5,000) for consumers -- so it looks like it's limited toward roaming broadcast professionals who need their recordings in HD. That said, the ability to decode 4K recordings without additional rendering might come in very handy for those who are prepared to pay a premium for that flexibility. Still, if you fancy watching us take a tour of the hardware and seeing it up close, head on past the break for the video.

Gallery: JVC 4K Camcorder hands-on