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A neat little app has just popped up on iTunes for the iOS systems that combines text recognition, image processing, and language translation into a smooth augmented reality system. ’Word Lens‘ processes video from your iPhone or iPod Touch in real-time and removed text, and replaces it with replacement text of a selected type.
Instantly translate printed words from one language to another with your built-in video camera, in real time! Use Word Lens on vacation, business travel, and just for fun.
The free demo mode just replaces with nothing or backwards text, but you can buy $5 packs (in-app) for English and Spanish translation. A great little idea, and probably one of the few apps I’ve seen that I would really call Augmented Reality.
See above a screenshot of the free demo pointed at my GTC Coffee Mug. Of course it has trouble with the ‘GPU’ part on the left (probably because GPU isn’t a word), but it recognized and reversed ‘Technology Conference’ with surprising accuracy.
via Word Lens for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPod touch (4th generation) on the iTunes App Store.
Graphics, Science augmented reality, iphone, software
Yesterday Luxology released modo501, offering a nice 30-40% rendering boost across the board and support for Pixar’s SubD surfaces. Those two alone would warrant an upgrade, but they didn’t stop there. They’ve also got a new ‘RayGL’ viewport option, allowing ray-traced viewports updated in realtime, and new occlusion texturing options.
“modo 501 is all about richer visual feedback and faster response as well as exciting new tools and content,” said Peebler. “The latest version of modo offers an even more fluid content creation experience and is optimized for even the most demanding projects.”
“This release is really all about the user’s experience,” said Chris Hague, freelance 3D illustrator and modo 501 beta tester. “I think it’s that specific focus that draws me to modo and makes Luxology such a special company.”
You can buy modo501 for $995, or upgrade for $395, making it one of the more affordable high-end packages around. SolidSmack has a great writeup of the details.
Get all the details in the press releases after the break.
Read more…
Graphics luxology, modo, software
LG recently announced in Beijing China that they will be producing a Film-type Patterned Retarder (FPR) 3-D LCD television. This 47 inch, 1080p high-definition television will be released in 2011. Instead of active shutter glasses like many televisions now use, LG has opted to go with passive 3-D glasses. They also plan to release an 84-inch, Ultra High Definition 3840×2160 resolution 3-D panel. That is four times the resolution of current high-definition television sets. Let’s just say that I want one.
via : LG unveils 3-D FPR Display
Hardware 3d, hdtv
NASA’s Image of the Day shows how our reliance on plants is increasing. From 1995 to 2005, human’s reliance on plants increased from 20.3 percent to 25.6 percent. This is due in part to population growth, as well as people using more plant products.
This map shows the comparison for 2005. The colors represent the ratio between the amount of carbon people require and the amount of carbon Earth produced. At the top of the scale (dark red), the population needs at least ten times more plants than are grown locally. At the lower end of the scale (dark green), the land produces more vegetation that the local population needs. Gray areas are places where people in the area use less than 10 percent of the vegetation growing there. In the center of the scale (pale yellow) people use most of the vegetation.
via : Our Reliance on Plants is Increasing
Science scientific visualization
We start our last selection of the week with Credit Loan‘s tracking the money supply growth by country, followed by a look at small business in the US and other countries, made by Intuit. We then move on to the U.K., with Confused‘s explanation on how car insurance prices are worked , Total Job‘s graduate outlook there, and we finish with an overview at Ireland bailout, by The Guardian.
Read more…
Graphics, Science design, economy, environment, infographic, infoviz, Visual Loop, visualizations
JESS3 & Eloqua: The Blog Tree
Yahoo & JESS3: 2010 in Review
State of the iOS App Store
Santa’s Insurance Costs
Graphics, Science digest, infographics, list
NASA has recently released a new global map showing the temperature changes for the 2000-2009 decade. These maps do not show the absolute temperature, but instead show how much warmer or colder a region was on average than the 1951-1980 period.
According to an ongoing temperature analysis conducted by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), the average global temperature on Earth has increased by about 0.8°Celsius (1.4°Fahrenheit) since 1880. Two-thirds of the warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of roughly 0.15-0.20°C per decade.
via : Global Warming Mapped
Science nasa, scientific visualization
VizWorld.com 
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