[From The Wall Street Journal, where the story includes a slideshow, an interactive graphic and a 5 minute video] Next Cameras Come Into View Experimental Device Has a Billion Pixels, Can Zoom In After a Photo Is Taken By Gautam NaikK Updated June 21, 2012 Scientists at Duke University have built an experimental camera that allows the user—after a photo is taken—to zoom in on portions of the image in extraordinary detail, a development that could fundamentally alter the way images are captured and viewed. The new camera collects more than 30 times as much picture data as today’s best…

[From The New York Times Magazine, where eight portraits are featured; more information and portraits are available on John Clang’s web site] Futuristic Family Reunions Be Here Now Julie Bosman June 1, 2012 In Singapore, it is a common practice for entire families to gather on special occasions for a formal picture, often at a studio, with the resulting image framed and prominently displayed at home. The growing tendency of younger family members to take jobs abroad, however, has left many modern portraits missing a relation or two. So the Singaporean photographer John Clang devised a solution, piggybacking on the…

[From Digital Trends] Instaglasses always let you see the world in vintage filters You practically Instagram everything you see anyway, so why not alter your vision to feel like you’re on Instagram 24/7? June 21, 2012 By Natt Garun Let’s admit it: Some of you are total Instagram addicts. You can’t seem to take pictures without the need to add filters and make them look cooler, and photos without the edits just seem bland and… oh, so contemporary. If you’re so in love with vintage photographic filters, why not see the world in them? That’s the idea behind the Instaglasses…

[From The Telegraph; more information is available from the BBC] [Image: BBC R&D have been developing acoustics that can trick the listener into believing they are really at events such as concerts with sound coming from every direction – even above and below. Photo: Getty.] BBC is developing 3D radio Engineers at the BBC are developing new technology to broadcast radio and television programmes with three-dimensional sound. By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 10 Jun 2012 Three-dimensional television may only just have arrived, but engineers at the BBC are already working on the next step – 3D radio. Researchers at the…

[From The University of Central Florida] [Image: A “cool girl” greets a student in the school hallway. Photo courtesy of Virtually Better, Inc.)] Avatars May Help Children With Social Anxiety Researchers looking for 8- to 12-year-olds to participate in study By Chad Binette June 12, 2012 A principal standing in the hallway says, “You are one of my favorite students!” In class, a smart girl says, “You are the nicest person in our class!” Many children would smile and eagerly return those compliments, but some with social anxiety may be too terrified to respond. Researchers at the University of Central…

[From CNET’s Crave blog, where the post includes another image and a 1:09 minute video] [Image: A visitor to Dan Chen’s “Last Moment Hospital” interacts with the Last Moment Robot. Credit: Dan Chen] Last Moment Robot: ‘End of life detected’ Imagine drawing your final breath in the sole company of a talking machine: “I am here to comfort you. You are not alone, you are with me.” by Leslie Katz June 5, 2012 As a woman lies on a mattress on the floor, a small white machine attached to her outstretched right arm offers the following words: I am the…

[From The Orange County Register, where the story includes many additional images] Imagineers plan Cars Land with virtual reality By Ian Hamilton / The Orange County Register Updated: June 16, 2012 Almost 60 miles from Disneyland in Anaheim, I’m standing in the middle of Cars Land, the 12-acre addition to the Disneyland Resort in California Adventure that is the largest expansion to the resort in its history except for California Adventure. In front of me, blue skies and wispy white clouds float behind the vaguely automobile-inspired mountains of Radiator Springs, the town from Pixar’s “Cars” film. I can’t see them,…

[From DVICE; another story on this follows below] Immersive iPad app puts you in the middle of any video By Adario Strange June 14, 2012 In years past we have been dazzled by the experience of virtual reality, and in recent years augmented reality has offered the promise of digitally enhanced meatspace. But a new twist offers an immersive experience that might be called sublimated reality. Condition One has created an embeddable immersive video player that allows you to experience previously recorded video as though you are there as the video is happening. In some ways it brings to mind…

[From BLDG BLOG] O.P. Tree Posted Sunday, June 03, 2012 The “O.P. Tree” was an Observation Post Tree deployed during World War I. Its “goal,” as author Hanna Rose Shell explains in Hide and Seek, her newly published history of the relationship between camouflage and photography, “was to craft a mimetic representation of a tree—and not just any tree, but a particular tree at a specific site” on the European battlefield. The design, fabrication, and, perhaps most interestingly, installation of this artificial plant form had a fascinating and somewhat Truman Show-esque quality:…

[From The University of Canterbury’s Psychology Department; more information and a 2:44 minute video are available from Stuff] UC designs virtual quake simulator 31 May 2012 Researchers are creating an earthquake simulator at the University of Canterbury to investigate ways to help Cantabrians overcome post-traumatic stress disorders caused by ongoing seismic activity. UC’s Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand (HIT Lab NZ) is constructing a virtual reality simulator that includes a platform fitted with bass shakers to recreate a virtual earthquake.…

[From Technology Review’s Physics arXiv blog] The Future of Medical Visualisation Medicine has been revolutionised by 3D imaging techniques. But you ain’t seen nothing yet, say data imaging researchers KFC 06/08/2012 Medical visualisation is the use of computers to create 3D images from medical imaging data sets. It’s a relatively young field of science, relying heavily on advances in computing for its horsepower. Despite its youth, these techniques have revolutionised medicine. Much of modern medicine relies on the 3D imaging that is possible with magnetic resonance imaging scanners and computed tomography (CT) scanners, which make 3D images out of 2D…

[From PC Gamer, where the story includes the complete three part video] John Carmack is making a virtual reality headset, $500 kits available soon, video interview inside Graham Smith June 6 2012 John Carmack has been building a virtual reality headset in his spare time. He’s showing it to people behind closed doors at this year’s E3, tucked away inside the Bethesda booth, and described it as “probably the best VR demo the world has ever seen.” Our video hero, David Boddington, was the 30th person in the world to use it. Check [here] for a 20 minute video with…