Hasta La Gadget!

So, you’re loving the new gallery and camera options we saw on Jelly Bean 4.2 and have no intention of waiting for that OS for your former flagship Galaxy Nexus? A certain dmmarck on Android Central’s forums has sorted that, and you can now grab the camera app for your so-last-month 4.1.1 OS on that handset. Other than a Photo Sphere bug, it’s apparently working like the factory version, but newbies beware — the installation requires some Android hacking chops. You can grab it at the source.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Samsung, Google

Android 4.2 camera, gallery ported to Galaxy Nexus running Jelly Bean 4.1.1 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Americans might be up in arms after hearing that the federal court has taken sides with the Justice Department on enabling police to use concealed surveillance cameras on private property, and they are able to do so without having to have a search warrant in the first place. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach ruled that this was a reasonable thing for Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents to enter rural property without prior permission nor a warrant, installing multiple “covert digital surveillance cameras” as they hope to discover and record evidence of 30 to 40 marijuana plants being cultivated.

So much for the law protecting Americans’ privacy rights, as Big Brother now has a carte blanche to monitor our activities – whether we know it or not, and obviously, those of us who prefer to prance around in our birthday suits in the privacy of our own homes might want to think twice, as you can never quite tell just when it becomes illegal to cultivate a row of miniature cactii on your window shelf. At least there is no ruling yet on warrantless cell phone tracking – yet.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Lytro cameras gain manual controls through firmware update, CAMER:ing is a cool digital camera in a ring,

Having seen some of its high-end cinema camera thunder stolen by the likes of Red and Arri, Sony has just launched a pair of CineAlta PL-mount cameras with brand new Super 35mm sensors: The PMW-F5 and PMW-F55. Though both pack 4K CMOS imagers, there are some major differences — the higher-end PMW-F55 has a global shutter, wider color gamut and can capture 4k, 2k or HD video internally, while the PMW-F5 records 2k and HD natively with a rolling shutter (4k requires an optional RAW recorder, as discussed below).

Depending on the level of quality you want, there are several ways to capture video to each camcorder. MPEG-4 H.264 video or Sony’s SR MPEG-4 SStP can be recorded onto Sony’s new SxS PRO+ media, or if RAW quality is desired, there’s the new AXS-R5 Access Memory System for 2K / 4K RAW capture — which will also work with the current NEX-FS700. Using the latter system, the PMW-F5 is capable of grabbing up to 120fps slow motion RAW HD video, while the PMW-F55 can capture 240fps at 2k, putting it squarely in Epic-X territory. The new camcorders will arrive in February 2013, and while Sony hasn’t outed pricing yet, it’ll likely be well under the flagship 4k CineAlta F65‘s formidable $65k sticker. Check the PR after the break to get the entire technical skinny.

Continue reading Sony goes Red-hunting with PMW-F55 and PMW-F5 pro CineAlta 4K Super 35mm sensor camcorders

Filed under: Cameras, HD, Sony

Sony goes Red-hunting with PMW-F55 and PMW-F5 pro CineAlta 4K Super 35mm sensor camcorders originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 02:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s almost a truism that starter smartphones have poor cameras that struggle just to get pristine photos in broad daylight, let alone dim interiors. Thankfully, OmniVision’s new OV5645 sensor could lead newcomers out of a very literal darkness. The 5-megapixel imager includes backside illumination, support for 1080p30 (or 720p60) video and its own internal autofocus system, but no dedicated JPEG compression engine — in short, a lot of the low-light performance of more sophisticated smartphones without the usual attached costs. Its cost-cutting even extends to front cameras, as a forward-facing sensor can share resources with the back camera to scale back on redundant hardware. We’re looking forward to when mass production starts in the first quarter of 2013; we might not have to excuse our photo quality for a long, long time afterwards.

Continue reading OmniVision unveils 5MP BSI sensor that takes low light cameras further into the entry level

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile

OmniVision unveils 5MP BSI sensor that takes low light cameras further into the entry level originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are many people across the country and around the world who don’t like the idea of cameras watching their every move. Those who are uncomfortable with a normal security camera watching them will really be bothered by the future security cameras that can watch what they’re doing, and predict what they are going to do. The technology comes from a team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University.

The future security cameras will use technology that will eventually be able to predict what the people might do according to the researchers. The goal is to create software to be used as security cameras are able to predict illicit behavior before the behavior occurs. The cameras will be able to alert security personnel if unauthorized behavior is expected to take place.

The research is funded by the US government and is being called automatic video surveillance technology. The technology is expected to eventually be used in both civil and military security networks. The video cameras and the new software would be put into use in places such as airports to help predict suspicious activity such as leaving a bag unattended.

The technology makes heavy use of advances made by machine vision researchers. The technology is said to be similar to tech Google uses in its self-driving cars and combined some aspects of face recognition software. The recognition software is called a “cognitive engine” that is able to understand the “nouns” (people and objects) and the “verbs” (actions the nouns are allowed to do) and how those relate to what people or objects are allowed to do. That allows activity forecasting and brings the world one-step closer to Minority Report.

[via CNET]

High-tech security cameras can watch and predict what people will do is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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