VizWorld.com

Gartner has released their latest “Hype Cycle” report where they tackle all of the hyped technologies and try to determine where they fit into the classic cycle of new/overhyped/crash/commonplace (the few that make it the entire way through, that is).

“The Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies features technologies that are the focus of attention in the IT industry because of particularly high levels of hype, or those that may not be broadly acknowledged but which we believe have the potential for significant impact,” said Jackie Fenn, vice president and Gartner Fellow.

Some relevant technologies to check on the chart:

• Augmented Reality – Just about to hit the peak before the crash, with mainstream adoption in 5-10 years.
• Virtual Assistants & Public Virtual Worlds – nearly through the Trought of Disillusionment, about to enter mainstream in 5-10 years
• Interactive TV – Well on the way to productivity, less than 5 years to mainstream.

Some of this is obvious.  With AppleTV, GoogleTV, Hulu, Roku, and so many other players in the market, some would say InteractiveTV is already here.

Of particular interest to me is their information on Augmented Reality and Virtual Worlds.  No doubt, Augmented Reality is not much more than hype right now.  There are few “useful” applications, at least applications that do anything better than traditional methods.  I agree that it’s headed for a big crash.  The only thing I disagree with is setting mainstream 5-10 years out.  If smartphone and mobile handsets continue to grow at the alarming rate they are right now, I think we’re looking at something as close as 3 years.

Virtual worlds are another interesting point.  Yes, they’re definitely in the trough of disillusionment.  Second Life is a great example, it was HUGE in the beginning, but users quickly found it confusing and left.  Linden has worked hard on improving the experience, and the pioneer users have found fun and interesting uses for the technology, ranging from Game Shows to Scientific Research. I think it’s definitely entering the realm of productivity as people become more accustomed to virtual telecommuting technology like GotoMyPC and WebEx meetings, virtual worlds are just the next step.  While SecondLife may not be the final result, it’s an important step along the way as computing power becoming more vast and overwhelming, and a Virtual World interface becomes a simpler way to interact with it.

What do you think?

via Gartner’s 2010 Hype Cycle Special Report Evaluates Maturity of 1,800 Technologies.

Science augmented reality, gartner, virtual worlds

It was rumored back in January but quickly Debunked, but now it seems it might be official: XFX claims they will no longer offer NVidia graphics cards, going AMD only.

XFX told us earlier that as of this day, they officially stop selling any Nvidia cards. This is a direct action after Nvidia’s decision to de-authorise XFX from approved partner list. The decision to stop working with Nvidia doesn’t surprise us as Nvidia simply didn’t send any Fermi chips to XFX and they were encouraging channel partners not to work with XFX, and therefore XFX simply could not sell enough Nvidia cards.

Several reports claim a bit of a pissing match between NVidia and XFX over XFX’s recent decision to start selling AMD product.  They claim NVidia began witholding Fermi chips to strongarm them, and eventual delisted them from the ‘approved partner list’.   Seems they just got tired of fighting and now they’re going AMD only.

However, didn’t XFX release a GTX480 and 470 back in March?  These are Fermi chips, so how’ld that happen?

I’m not sure how much market share XFX had anyway, as EVGA is NVidia’s primary European supplier anyway (for Quadro & Tesla cards, anyway).  No doubt this will offer a little bump to AMD’s bottom line in the short-term, but I think XFX will regret it in the long term.

via XFX officially stops doing Nvidia.

Hardware amd, nvidia, xfx

The Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3 Digital Camera comes with two 10-megapixel sensors which allows you to capture 720p movies in 3-D. If you have a 3-D HDTV, then all you need to do to see the 3-D movie is to connect it up with an HDMI cable. The Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3 Digital Camera is available for order at Amazon for $499.95.

Now Anton over at the 3D Vision Blog has tested Fujifilm Real 3-D W1 Camera in different light conditions.

By now you should all know that shooting in 3D requires more light for good results, the light is needed to bring up more details and darkness is a total enemy of the 3D, because when it is dark you loose detail and get noise instead. So one thing I was not happy about the Fujifilm Real 3D W1 camera I have and use for a few months was the fact that it produces quite a lot of noise (maybe I’m too spoiled from using DSLR), especially when there is not enough light – for example when shooting in 3D indoors. And I’ve been meaning to do some more testing in order to see how the level of the ambient light affects the quality of the 3D photos you can take with the camera.

via Testing Fujifilm Real 3D W1 Camera in Different Light Conditions – 3D Vision Blog

Hardware 3d

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured images of the large asteroid Vesta that will help scientists refine plans for the Dawn spacecraft’s rendezvous with Vesta in July 2011. Scientists have constructed a video from the images that will help improve pointing instructions for Dawn as it is placed in a polar orbit around Vesta. Analyses of Hubble images revealed a pole orientation, or tilt, of approximately four degrees more to the asteroid’s east than scientists previously thought.

via HubbleSite – NewsCenter – NASA Mission to Asteroid Gets Help from Hubble Space Telescope (10/08/2010) – Introduction.

Science astronomy, hubble, nasa

Today we start with JESS3 ‘s infographic on American’s concerns about unemployment and the economy, followed by Economic Crisis comparison on the debt status by Presidents. Medical Insurance asks if Paid Sick Days are good – or bad – for companies, and Mint explains what is a Stock. Finally, Travel Insurance shows us some of the most famous Bank heists in American History.

Read more…

Graphics, Science design, economy, environment, infographic, infoviz, Visual Loop, visualizations

The Female Character Flowchart

Graphics, Science digest, infographics, list

BestDesignTuts has a nice collection of 30 infographics, covering several that we’ve seen before but creating a nice catalog of inspirational sources if you plan to create your own.

Any visual representation of any information, data or knowledge, which makes the understanding of that particular piece of information easy and quick, is called infographic or information graphic. These graphics are used to represent complex information embedded in maps, technical write-ups, journals, etc.

These graphics extend a great help to computer scientists, mathematicians, statisticians, etc, to communicate their findings and concepts to masses in a very easy-to-understand and apt way. A day-to-day use of these infographics is news weather report. News channels use infographic to display the weather status.

Below is the collection of 20 such infographics, which communicate the information in a very relevant and easy way.

via 30 Selective, Useful and Creative Infographics.

Graphics infographics, list

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y560D is one of several 3-D capable notebooks that are available now. This model comes with an Intel Core i7-720QM CPU, 4GB of DDR3-1066 RAM, a 1366×768 LCD, an AMD Mobility Radeon 5730 with 1GB Dedicated GPU RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and an 8x DVD±RW/CD-RW optical drive. That is not too bad for a street price of $1,399. The real question is how are the 3-D capabilities, especially since this is an AMD graphics card. HotHardware has posted a review of this laptop, and answers the question.

Lenovo’s IdeaPad Y560D is an interesting system that initially caught our eye thanks to its 3D-capable display. 3D films and TVs have been declared hot ticket capabilities by the film industry and TV manufacturers, but this is the first 3D-capable notebook we’ve had in house. The Y560D isn’t the only 3D laptop on the market, but it’s priced with more of an eye towards mainstream consumers; most 3D notebooks to date have been aimed at the high-end/enthusiast market. At $1399 on sale the 560D isn’t cheap, but it’s a more affordable than most of the competition.

via Lenovo’s IdeaPad Y560D 3D Laptop Reviewed – HotHardware

Hardware 3d

3D Elephant in the Groove

David Cole has taken two hacked Panasonic GH1 cameras, and a mirror box to film an elephant in stereoscopic 3-D. The main problem that needed overcoming was the need to synchronize the two cameras, but that seems to have been solved now. You will need your red/cyan anaglyph glasses to view the movie.

The rig utilises a large mirror box, two GH1s with hacked firmware and manual focus Nikon lenses and is now operational. The footage above is an anaglyph from the camera, and you’ll require 3D glasses for the 3D effect of course.

The main challenge was to power-up both cameras in perfect sync. David found the AF system on the Olympus 9-18mm Micro 4/3rds lenses were non-deterministic, randomly effecting the synchronisation of the cameras by small margins. Recording needs to happen in perfect sync otherwise the 3D effect begins to fail.

via GH13-based stereo rig… it’s alive!

via EOSHD.com – Get your 3D glasses out! Professional GH1 3D rig goes live

Hardware 3d

You trembled in front of the Afgan Counterinsurgency Strategy.. Then you cried for mercy from the US Government Acquisitions Process. Now, they’re back with the scariest one of all: The 193 step Pentagon IT Chart!

Believe it or not, the chart was actually drawn up to help the Pentagon’s cyber security team make some sense of the massive set of rules they’re expected to wade through, an attempt to “capture the tremendous breadth of applicable policies, some of which many [IT] practitioners may not even be aware, in a helpful organizational scheme.” Yes, looking at that graphical mushroom cloud of a chart, the word “helpful” certainly comes to mind. Bonus mind-boggling factoid: the chart was created by the DASD CIIA (Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber, Identity & Information Assurance). Good general rule of thumb: never expect useful assistance from an entity with an acronym that long.

Saw has nothing on this.

Your Job Coud Be Worse: Pentagon IT Follows This Insane 193 Rule Chart.

Graphics bad, infographic, military