Just when HD cameras are hitting the market, it looks as though another digital photo technology is being developed. Stanford researchers have devised an image sensor that is capable of judging depth in pictures. While this technology is no where close to becoming available at retail, it is still interesting to see that the technology isn’t so far fetched.

It’s a fairly simple technology to grasp when speaking in layman’s terms. Basically instead of the sensor producing one big image, it will divide the image into 16×16 layers. These layers will overlap one another, with some of them appearing to be in the foreground, while the others will be in the background. The problem with these 16×16 layers is that you must have some form of texture and detail for the picture to produce a 3D image.

Another benefit of this new techonlogy, is noise reduction in photos. Stephen Shankland of CNet reports how the noise reduction works, “The noise is reduced because multiple subarrays capture the same views. It’s therefore easier to distinguish true color of the subject from off-color noise.”

Probably the biggest road block for the researchers at this point, is the amount of processing power it takes to produce a single image. It takes quite a considerable amount of power to produce the 3D images compared to the 2D images we know. So much so it isn’t anywhere near ready for retail production.

So there you have it, 3D photos might be gracing your picture frames. It will be interesting to see what digital camera company begins to invest in the research. Now only if digital camcorders will be able to produce 3D videos R2-D2 style (which may not be too far off)

Albott and Costello, Joanie and Chachi, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, are all names that pop into alot of minds when thinking of great duos (ok maybe not so much Joanie and Chachi). It is being rumored that Netflix and Microsoft are looking to be added to this list of great duos.

While it is still just a rumor, Netflix nor Microsoft have made an official announcement about their collaboration. The project that is stirring in the rumor mill is that Netflix will start providing XBOX Live users with streaming movies along with their service.

There have been so many clues as to the announcement that you can almost already hear, “It’s elementary my dear Watson”. First, Netflix’s CEO, Reed Hastings joined Microsoft’s Board of Directors last March, meaning there has been plenty of time for the partnership to form. Second and probably the more convincing clue was a survey handed out by Netflix to its’ users. The important excerpt from the survey is, ““If, as part of your Netflix membership you could instantly watch movies and TV episodes on your TV with your Xbox 360, how likely would you/anyone in your household be to do that?” .

Microsoft has really been pushing the “home media experience” mainly through its’ XBOX Live service. They have offered movie downloads, and downloads for TV. But nothing so groundbreaking as to catch the eye of many users. With the announcement of a joining of forces with Netflix, it might just make the splash Microsoft needs. They have a perfect opportunity to make this splash at the GDC this week. GDC stands for Game Developer’s Conference, and Microsoft has used it in year’s past to make large announcments.

So Netflix and XBOX Live users, keep an eye out this week for you might see all the clues come together into fruition.

It was reported yesterday that Toshiba would make an announcement this week about HD-DVD’s future. It was pretty well speculated that this announcement would be the official end for Toshiba’s HD format. It’s not a surprise to see that this speculation came true, and as of this morning HD-DVD is finished.

Toshiba president Atsutoshi Nishida, explains the reason for throwing in the towel, “We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop”

Now that the format war is over, it’s time to analyze how this is going to shape the future of HD movies. This war like many in history did nothing but leave people confused, frustrated, and unsure about the HD market. So now that Blu-Ray is the clear cut winner, what kind of pricing changes can we expect to see? Along with this another question might be, how will this shape the next-gen system wars between Microsoft and Sony? It’s too early to answer any of these questions, but rest assured they will be answered soon.

It’s been analyzed by many experts as to what caused the downfall of HD-DVD. Many experts claim it was Blu-Ray’s massive advertising campaign, and HD-DVD’s lack of advertising that swayed consumers. Others claim it was Toshiba’s lack of scope in the market, not releasing their formant in different regions. Another claim is that Blu-Ray is just the technologically superior of the two, allowing for more storage capacity than HD-DVD. The exact reason might never be known because it was probably all of these factors that led to the format war conclusion.

R.I.P - HD DVD

While no official announcement of HD-DVD’s death has been released, you can almost smell it in the air. What has officially been announced is that Toshiba has been reviewing it’s investment in HD-DVD, which leads to the speculation of the announcement. A Toshiba official has said that the announcement could come as soon as Tuesday.

Looking back on the format wars it’s really hard to tell how Blu-Ray pulled it all off. During the beginning neither of the formats were selling well, considering a large portion of the public hadn’t and still hasn’t invested in HDTV yet. The movie studios looked pretty evenly divided as to what format they were releasing movies for. It seemed to happen so fast as well, before Christmas it looked as though the format war could go on forever. The technology looked pretty even as well, as Blu-Ray had a larger capacity, but HD-DVD was alittle more affordable.

So just what was “it” that helped push Blu-Ray over the edge? Many analysts believe it was all done through marketing, and just how much Sony invested in their marketing. Sony saw their big push around Christmas, which saw almost complete domination for Blu-Ray. I guess it just goes to show all the corny commercials on TV and the internet really can serve a purpose.

So what does this all mean for the consumer? Well Wal-Mart has officially released it will no longer be selling HD-DVDs, Best Buy will no longer put new HD-DVDs out, and Net Flix will no longer put out new HD-DVD stock for rental. The end of the format wars will go beyond movies, and into the video game market. It will be no surprise when PS3 systems see a significant increase in sells as they support the blu-ray format. This will be an interesting time for the Xbox 360, because while they supported HD-DVD, you had to buy an additional peripheral to play the movies.

So it’s looking like Tuesday might just be Judgement Day for HD-DVD supporters. I can’t wait to see all the quirky stories of what people do with their HD-DVD players, and just how much they will go for on eBay.

It is being reported by iSuppli, that the Wii will become the #1 console in the next gen wars in 2008. This news may not come as a huge surprise, considering how popular the Wii has been, and the fact that it is still difficult to find.

If the report becomes a reality; then what is surprising is how short a time it took for the Wii to become #1. The Xbox 360 had a one year jump ahead of the Wii and the PS3, but the 360 just barely edged out the Wii in sales at the end of 07. The Wii went from 3.2 million units sold at the end of ‘06 to 18 million units at the end of ‘07.

It’s not a big shock to see why the Wii is so successful, with just a $249.99 price tag it’s easily the most affordable next gen console. Added on top of the cheaper price tag, the motion sensoring technology has opened a whole new market for the gaming world. While most gamers tend to be teen males, the ease of using motion instead of just buttons is appealing to the older generations.

While everything looks peaches and cream for the Wii this year, iSuppli has reported that the PS3 will be the overall winner. iSuppli has projected that the PS3 will have sold 38.4 units by 2011, with the Wii selling 37.7 million units. Yours truly thinks this might be a pretty hasty call considering anything can happen and will happen in the video game world.

Criminals who thought finger prints were the only cause for concern for being caught, should think again. The FBI has announced a joint venture with Lockheed Martin to create a new database for identifying physical characteristics among criminals and terrorists.

This isn’t the first time that the two have joined together in the fight against wrong doing, as Lockheed Martin developed the first fingerprint database for the FBI. The FBI has given Lockheed Martin $1 billion in funding for their research and development of the new technology.

With the new database, the FBI hopes to not only be able to identify criminals with fingerprints but also with tattoos, facial shapes, and iris patterns. Judy Marks, president of Lockheed’s Transport and Security Solutions division speaks on this new development, “We’re tremendously pleased to partner with the agency once again to deliver the next quantum leap in capability.”

Not everyone is smiling about this new technology, and Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Technology and Liberty Project explains why, “It’s the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated.”

The project is estimated to run aslong as 10 years, as not only does the technology have to be developed but also be put into use as criminals are identified.