Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome to Time Machines, where we offer up a selection of mechanical oddities, milestone gadgets and unique inventions to test out your tech-history skills.

Today the world can easily be captured in 1s and 0s for our viewing pleasure. The hardware behind this capability all started as a DIY lab project in 1974 to test out some new gear, and the result was a Frankenstein-like device that would eventually lead to world-changing advances in photographic technology. Head on past the break for the full story.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Panasonic has developed a new type of imaging sensor that gets more photons where they need to be by foregoing the use of conventional CMOS debayering filters. Those can reduce sensor effectiveness by blocking 50 to 70 percent of the light, so researchers developed “micro color splitters” to do the job instead, which can separate hues microscopically using refraction. They did it by taking advantage of wave optic principals to create a new type of electronic “deflector” that can analyze and separate light wave frequencies much faster than previous methods. There’s almost no loss of light during the process, and such devices can be made using conventional semiconductor fabricating techniques, too. There’s no timetable for commercializing the tech, but Panasonic holds 21 domestic and 16 overseas patents on it — meaning it’s likely not just a science project.

Filed under: Cameras, Science, Alt

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Via: Computerworld

Source: Panasonic