Future Nikon DSLRs Might Respond to Photographers’ Emotions. You might soon be able to control Nikon DSLRs using only your emotions. A patent published recently shows that the company is looking into building biological detectors into its cameras, allowing the camera to automatically change settings and trigger the shutter based on things like heart rate and blood pressure. For example, at a sporting event, the sensors could be used to trigger the shutter when something significant happens and the photographer’s reflexes are too slow. The camera could also choose a faster shutter speed to reduce blurring if the user is nervous. (via Egami) You might soon be able to control Nikon DSLRs using only your emotions.
A patent published recently shows that the company is looking into building biological detectors into its cameras, allowing the camera to automatically change settings and trigger the shutter based on things like heart rate and blood pressure. (via Egami) Pico Projectors. The pico projectors category includes the latest in ultra-portable projectors, micro projectors, and pocket projectors for laptops and other convenient device integration. See below for a list of pico projector reviews and information pages. Pico projectors, are hand-held portable devices that use a solid state light source such as LED instead of a conventional lamp. Loosely defined as under 0.75 lbs., they are considerably smaller than similar “pocket projectors” or “mini projectors,” which are therefore over 0.75-1 lbs. Thus, these pico projectors are no larger than the size of a pack of cigarettes.
Since the first pico projectors emerged on the market a few years ago, each subsequent generation’s performance, on average, has exceeded its predecessors. Pico projector brands: 3M, LG, Optoma, Samsung, AAXA.
Micro Optics. Wave Front tech. Nano Optics. Electrofluidic Technology. Electrowetting optics. Zoom lens without motorized optical elements. Ruud OldenbeuvingSeveral years ago, digital cameras started appearing in mobile phones. Nowadays they are so common that you can hardly buy a mobile phone without one. But these camera-phones are not very high quality, especially when compared to conventional digital cameras.
This is partly due to the fact that most conventional digital cameras have an adjustable lens system to focus images from different distances. These lens systems are made with several lenses that have fixed focal lengths but are able to change their spacing. In a mobile phone this is undesirable, because these lenses have a diameter which is too wide for implementation in a phone. Additionally, the distance between the lenses is too large, making the phone too bulky to be desirable for consumers. Finally, moving parts are not as robust as the rest of the mobile phone, making it more fragile.
ElectrowettingThe variable focal length lenses rely on the principle of electrowetting. Laboratoire Pierre Aigrain - UMR 8551 - Un amplificateur d’impulsions THz. The spectral region between 0.1 and 10 THz is known as the “Terahertz (THz) gap”. Compared with other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, it is underdeveloped and there is a lack of sources, amplificators and detectors. Le development of new devices in this domain is a major goal of modern opto-electronics. The “ultra-fast THz spectroscopy” group at LPA-ENS has recently developed a THz pulse amplificator based on novel scheme of “gain-switching” in quantum cascade lasers.
Ultra-fast THz spectroscopy is a recent technique and is now used for a number of applications ranging from studies of semiconductor nanostructures to bio-systems, where both the amplitude and phase of the THz wave can reveal interesting information. In these experiments, ultra-fast (sub-ps) THz pulses are generated from near-infrared pulses, by optical rectification or using photoconductive antennas.
References : N. News and Views par A. Contacts : Sukhdeep Dhillon ; Jerome Tignon Amplification d’ondes THz. Patent review: Optical security for the world's currencies | SPIE Newsroom. 14 March 2008, SPIE Newsroom. DOI: 10.1117/2.2200803.0001 Almost as soon as banks and governments printed paper money, people tried to counterfeit it, and it didn't take long for those issuing currency to seek ways to distinguish it from imitation.
Because money needs to be quickly and easily authenticated wherever it is exchanged, real money needs to be at least partly distinguishable by the human eye. As a result, most security methods for paper currency are optical. U.S. Patent 17,473, issued in 1857 and titled "Means Of Preventing Counterfeiting Bank Notes &c.," may be the earliest iteration of an optical method of manufacturing secure paper money. It involved using paper tinted to absorb light, and printing ink that also absorbed light rather than reflecting it so that clear photographic copies could not be made. Since then, thousands of methods have been invented to manufacture secure currency -- approximately 1,200 in the U.S .patent office alone since 1975. Margaret Fiore. Novel Devices Laboratory -
Programmable Lab-on-Chip by Laplace Barriers(NDL Invention) The overall objective of this program is to create an adaptable on-demand microchannel platform which can be electronically configured, maintain its programmed configuration even when electrical power is removed, and thereby allow a single module to access to the vast library of lab-on-chip functions. Our recent results demonstrate that by balancing in-plane and out-of-plane electrowetting and Young-Laplace forces, emergent control in microchannel formation and fluid transport can be realized. Our rationale is that the lab-on-chip community will be able to leverage the enormous infrastructure for liquid crystal display manufacturing and 4-bit computer interfacing, to provide the world with a highly affordable and agile lab-on-chip product (see image below).
Reconfigurable Liquid Metal Electronics (NDL Invention) Electrowetting Displays (Global Academic Leader) Electrofluidic Displays (NDL Invention) 'Other Stuff'