oauth twitter library update

Currently I am up dating the twitter oauth library and as result there will be some scheduled down time to our twitter mobile feed.

3D Video Capture with Kinect

Home Brew 3D video capture has just arrived. With little more than $170 and a few tips picked up on the internet you to can create your own 3D video just like this individual . Kinect is a motion sensor that plugs into the Xbox 360 and allows users to play games simply by moving their body. It allows you to do more than just this though. With a bit of scripting knowledge you can hook it up to your PC and flick through web pages using Kinect's motion sensors. Similar to what was scene in the Minority Report. For more information have a look here and here.

ZOOMCREATOR Portal Advertising

If you would like to advertise on ZOOMCREATOR.COM just refer to the following link for more information.

Digital Design Tournament

The name of the event is Cut & Paste and its a competition open for entries in 2D, 3D, and Motion Design. This year in Japan its being held Tokyo, December 11th 2010. Japan is just one country the competition tours. You can see streaming live feeds of each countries competition on justin.tv . Each contestant has 15 minute rounds to design a concept against a competitor. Here is one such design from a contestant in Tokyo. More on Cut&Paste here and here .

The Move Is On For HTML5

As Apple products continue to do well in the market place and cross platforming issues continue to exist for developers using Adobe's Flash or Microsoft's Silverlight rich media there will simply be no other choice for developers soon but to use HTML5 as the new web standard. In a recent move Apple has decided not to bundle Adobe's Flash on some of its new operating systems. More about this issue can be read here and here.

A helpful video presentation of html5 on ipad can be found here and/or you may like to try it yourself and explore the following demos on iphone or ipad using this link.

One thing I did notice however is that 3D transition examples only appear to currently work in safari. Therefore, full cross platform acceptance maybe awhile away yet and the question arises for backward compatibility of older web browsers. More on html5 found here.

3D

while 3D movies continue to make in roads at the box office some are questioning the staying power of 3D, given its history. One fundamental difference that did not exist before is that now Directors have the tools from developers to create visual stunning 3D movies. 3D is now just another tool helping that story come alive. A string of highly anticipated movies such as Tron : Legacy and Star Wars should ensure that 3D is here to stay for awhile (please note, this flash preview won't work on the iphone or ipad).

Bug Report

At the moment I am working on updating twitter libraries and solving the elusive caching issue which creates duplicates in news postings for the mobile feed from time to time. More on the twitter bug.

AR CV

With the continual buzz about AR (which was also evident in CEATEC this year with DoCoMo's exhibit) a UK company has come out with the first AR CV. More about the development process that goes into it can be found here.

CEATEC 2010 Highlights

The main highlights of this years event can be found here . Overwhemingly, 3D was still the major theme of the trade show as evident with Sony's 3D world but there was a clear movement towards mobile. Such as 3D screens for mobile by Sharp, QVGA OLED displays from TDK and clear fluid and dual phone screens by Fujitsu. There was also a display of high speed wireless mobile connectivity from Samsung.

In other developments there was some nifty voice recognition software from MMDAgent software, and some good examples of the latest in digital signage from 3M. Some low key innovations which were just as interesting were from 3M's pocket projector and the GETPOWERPAD.

Currently, I am organizing some video highlights of the event and will be uploading them to zoomcreator's video channel.

Open Source

What is open source ? Here is a useful definition and summary. There are many good open source projects on the web and SourceForge is just one good place to start looking.

If your going to incorporate an open source project in your website be aware there are many different types of open source licenses. Some are more open then others. Once you understand the terms of the license make sure your server which hosts your website is compatible with the softwares installation requirements.

Look out for projects which are regularly updated and have a good support forum. Generally, in all newer projects there is little support and your basically on your own in trouble shooting problems. In most cases only the more established projects have an installer which makes installing the software so much easier.

CEATEC 2010

Looking forward to seeing everyone next week at CEATEC 2010. Watch my reviews on Youtube !

Testing Job Board Widget in blogger

Job Board Is Now Live

Just click on where it says job board on the front page of our website. I am still doing some tweeking to the css and smarty template and haven't yet hooked the job feeds into our mobile news feed.

Once you have posted a job I will receive an email to verify it before it goes live. The turn around could be any where from a couple of hours to a day or two depending how busy I am. Eventually though I will be hooking up PayPal with job postings so they are automatically posted once we have received payment. But for now the job board is free!

Job Board

Amongst other things currently in the works is a job board for this website. It will give a chance for those in the digital imaging industry and other related industries to post jobs available. It will also provide a handy job resource for those job seekers out there wanting to crack into the industry.

I plan to tie in the job feed from the job board into twitters API which will be streamed to our twitter mobile news feed so you can get job postings to your mobile phone.

Twitter Roll Out

Twitter currently has only rolled out about half of their planned updates, namely just requiring scripts that access their API to use “OAuth” . The second part will be the move to t.co URL wrapping which will come sometime in the next couple of months (although a lucky few may already have this function). Therefore, we expect once again an interruption to our main mobile news feed as we make the adjustment to our scripts once the second update is rolled out. Currently we are using tinyurl for url wrapping which will be changing to twitters t.co url wrapping. However, you will still be able to use other url wrapping methods such as tinyurl and bit.ly. The latest Twitter API announcements can be found here.

Internet Privacy

With the development of virtual billboards, finger scanning , facial recognition software one wonders where is the privacy in all this. For instance, what happens to the information that is collected ? Will it be sold to data mining companies or even perhaps to government agencies for profiling ? It's anyones guess but on a less serious note here and here are two current video's circulating on the web in regards to internet privacy.

If your worried about internet privacy head over to places such as inside google , privacy rights and wikipedia for starters.
You can also help protect your privacy while online through software such as Bitdefender internet security which you can purchase by clicking on the image below. You may also want to Surf the Web Anonymously with Proxies. A nice free proxy list can be found here. And more information on proxies can be found here. If you get stuck on how to make use of a proxy head over to you tube for some tutorials on the subject. You may also want to check this Google feature which can tell if the site your visiting is safe.

Tokyo's Virtual Billboards

What was once science fiction is now a reality. You may remember this scene in the Miniority report. Well here in Japan billboard's can now determine your age, gender and recommend a soft drink based on your profile.

Earlier in another development, Hitachi came out with a "Minority Report" like tablet interface.

Stay up to date with movements in Digital Signage at the next Digital Signage expo in Japan in 2011.

Website Down Time

Web site services have been restored. Recently there was some down time due to a server upgrade of our web host servers which conflicted with our htaccess file. We apologize for any inconvenience.

If your a developer yourself and are not familar with htaccess files or in need of some similar help regarding these, well here are a few recommended resources; Apache 1.3 , Apache 2.0 , Apache 2.2 , Ask Apache , Perishable Press and here is a htaccess search engine.

FinePIX Real 3D V1 Picture Viewer

The FinePIX Real 3D V1 is a Picture viewer and not a TV but its one of the first LCD Monitor System devices which have hit the market which don't require the viewer to wear special 3D glasses. More about this here. To purchase the device click on the image below.

Twitter 360

Similar to Google latitude, Twitter 360 is an app where users can visualize friends and tweets using Augmented Reality and Twitter's Geo-tagging feature.

Twitter “OAuth”

Twitter started August 31 to require all applications to use “OAuth”. As result our main twitter account which broadcasts industry feeds was effected but is now operational again. You can get all the latest news in the industry to your mobile device by clicking here. For more information about twitter changes such as Twitter's t.co have a look here.

The Apps Market Place

With so many different apps on the web its hard to know which marketplace to find suitable apps. Here is a good list of the various marketplaces available. Typical though depending on what brand of mobile phone you are using most recent phones will have a function allowing you to connect straight to their respective marketplace to download the selected app.

If your a software developer and wish to publish an app in the market place try Goggle's Android Market place or Apple's Market place for starters. Here and also here are some good reasons for developing an app. And in a nice move companies such as Apple are starting to protect developers name/brand from name squatters.

Finally, Apple Opens Apps To Flash

It's been along time coming and at the top of the wish list for most developers but finally in a very welcomed move, Apple has opened apps to flash. Read more about this here.

Many of you may have been wondering why flash was not available before on Apple products so here is a nice video summary of the history of the issue. Don't hold your breath though as flash apps for apple devices won't be flooding the market any time soon.

Samsung galaxy tab

About half the size of the Ipad and roughly double the size of the Iphone Samsung's galaxy tab is based on the Google's android OS and supports flash. It has a small camera on the back with built in flash which amongst other things can take panorama photo's. A demo of the Samsung galaxy tab launched yesterday can be seen here and here. And if thats not enough here is the official sales commercial.

Prepare for a flood from other manufactures (such as Dell , HP Toshiba and Microsoft) offering similar devices as competitors challenge Apples dominance in the market place for tablet devices. Don't be surprised though if Apple comes out in 12months time with a 7inch version of the Ipad as rumors are already circulating this could be a possibility.

Where Are 3D T.V's Going ?

Two significant developments have recently occurred in 3D TV's. The first, 3D TV's are soon to be offered commercially without the need to wear 3D glasses. Recent improvements in 3D TV technology has allowed 3D images to appear as if there naturally coming from these 3D TV sets. A nice demo and explanation from the CES expo can been seen here.

The second, Japanese scientists have recently invented touchable 3D TV's which allows users to touch, pinch or poke images floating in front of them. Since last September Japanese scientists have been able to create touchable holograms and lately this development has moved to 3D T.V's.

It should be interesting to see what is on offer at this years up coming CEATEC expo !

India's Cheap as Tablet for displaying Multi-media content

India's new touchscreen tablet for students is claimed to have more features than the ipad. Its advertised for sale around 35$US and is a very affordable solution to showing multi-media content. The touch screen may not be in the league of the ipad but it works and includes Google's Android OS to boot. Watch out for auctions of this unit when they become available on Ebay and Amazon !

Iphone's rival, Google's Nexus one

In case you missed it ....Iphone is not the only mobile phone which looks good with digital images. Google's Nexus one (based on the Android OS) has the added advantage of the ability to use Flash. In recent years Adobe's flash is becoming more of an important programing language to render high resolution images in. Get your Nexus one today by clicking the image directly below.

Rss Caching

At the moment you may notice some in consistences with feed broadcasts. I have noticed a caching issue and currently working on a work around.

ZOOMCREATOR's Mobile News Service

ZOOMCREATOR's twitter account will now feature current digital imaging news from around the world (for the benefit of those on mobile) and our own company news. My own twitter account can be found here and will include development news.

ZOOMCREATOR'S Offsite Links

ZOOMCREATOR.COM's offsite RSS Feeds are now linked to the websites front page under offsite links. This can be found top right of the the main page. Currently, I am still doing some tweaking to the News Feed Aggregator, rss feeds and twitter API (to get all the feeds automatically pushed into twitter). New feeds will be added when I have time.

Solar-powered camera strap

Believe it or not a solar-powered camera strap has now been designed for the photographer in the field. Design by Weng Jie.

NASA goes 3D in Moonbase Alpha

Even though NASA won't be returning to the moon any time soon it does however give you the opportunity to. Well even if its just in a 3D game. More about this here and here.

Safe To Watch 3D TV

Under normal conditions scientists from "The Vision Centre" say its okay to watch 3D T.V. Read more about this here.

Total Immersion teams with Olympus

In a nice development, Total Immersion (a company that creates augmented reality also known as AR software), has teamed with Olympus to create an AR version of the Olympus Pen E-PL1 online. Read more about this here ! If your wondering what is AR ? Check my channel for an example AR demo from the 18th 3D & virtual reality expo which will be uploaded shortly.

Sony’s NEX-5/NEX-3 cameras

In case you missed this news release, Sony's NEX-5/NEX-3 firmware has been upgraded. Now you can shoot 3D panoramic photos. For more information about these cameras click here. You can buy the NEX-5 or NEX-3 by clicking on the respective image below.

The world's largest digital cameras

Pan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System) telescope which is also know as PS1 reportedly has the worlds largest digital cameras and are able to map one-sixth of the sky each month. Each of its four cameras are capable of capturing around 1.4 billion pixels. Read more about this here.

Videos of the 18th 3D & Virtual Reality Expo

In the process of uploading the videos of the event. The first is up. Others will follow over the course of the week. 3D was bigger then usual this year as you might expect. 3D glasses were all the rage. further comments will follow shortly.

News Feed Aggregator

Amongst other things I am currently working on, users to ZOOMCREATOR.COM will soon have the extra service of a news feed aggregator. This will allow a much better way of keeping up to date with what's happening in the VR and digital imaging world. All syndicated web content will also be published entirely automatically in real time to ZOOMCREATOR's twitter account for the benefit of those on mobile.

CEATEC 2010

CEATEC is on again this year between October 5th to October 9th at Makuhari Messe, Tokyo. This year I have been invited to be part of the CEATEC 2010 Official Media Tour and will be posting highlights of this event through this blog.

A Nice Video Review Of Canon's EOS 7D

Canon EOS 7D

I must say I am impressed with Canon's EOS 7D. I have had a quick look at it and it handles well. Nice features. For more information about this camera click here! If you want to buy this camera online just click the camera icon directly below.

Do You Have An Affiliate Program ?

We are alway's interested in hearing about good "Affiliate Programs" ! So if you have one which you feel we maybe interested in let us know! If you don't know what an affiliate program is than here is a quick definition . Some web sites which you can search for affiliate programs to match your web site needs can be found here, here and here . An easier set up solution found here.

Top Digital Camera Accessories

Ever wondered how to turn your flatscreen TV into a digital media player ? Here is a cost efficient way of doing this .

18th 3D & Virtual Reality Expo

Japan's largest trade show focusing on 3D and virtual reality is on again this year at Tokyo Big Sight from June 23rd to June 25th. For those who can't attend I will leave some videos of the event on ZOOMCREATOR's you tube channel.

ZOOM Flash Viewer

An AS2 zoom flash viewer is currently being integrated into the site....stay tuned for this as well as future upgrades. An upgrade to an AS3 viewer will come later.

3D TV's On The Rise

Largely thanks to the success of the film, Avatar....3D is making a come back....albeit in new 3D TV's which are taking off in Australia and elsewhere....read more about this here !

ZOOM IMAGE HOSTING

Do you have high resolution photo's you want to share on your blog or e-commerce website ? No problem !

All you have to do is simply contact me via email, negoiate a nominal sum and I will host your images online for a specified period of time.

"You provide the images and let me take care of the rest !"

If you have any questions please post them in the ZOOMCREATOR™ Forum under FAQ's/Services/FPX Image Hosting for the benefit of others.

Start today and share your photos in high resolution with ZOOMCREATOR.COM !