Hasta La Gadget!

GoPro makes some of the most popular cameras out there for recording action sports. Typically when we see video made with one of these cameras it is on YouTube and often has people doing things that are dangerous. GoPro has announced a new camera kit that has specialized mounts for people that want to record their jam session in the garage or on the stage.

The camera is called the GoPro HERO3+ Black Edition/Music and it comes with several mounts designed specifically for use on the stage. The mounts include one that allows the camera to fit on a mic stand with US or European mounts. The camera also comes with adhesive mounts for attaching directly to musical instruments.

What might be the most interesting mount looks like a clamp you might use in the workshop. It is designed to clamp onto just about any surface and securely hold the camera in place. It can also be used with other mounts in tandem for more flexibility. The Music camera kit will hit stores this spring for $399.99(USD).

Fujifilm has begun to tease a new X-mount digital camera that will launch at the end of this month. The exact name of the camera is unknown, but what we do know is that it will be an interchangeable lens camera using Fuji’s popular X-mount. No specs are offered in the teaser shot. The official launch of the camera is January 28.

What we can see is that the camera has three knobs for manually controlling the camera. The camera gets an ISO dial to complement the other controls carried over for the X-Pro1. Rumors suggest that the camera will have a large EVF sensor. According to rumors, it will also have an APS-C X-Trans sensor II rated at 16MP.

The camera is tipped to store images to a UHS-II SD card and shoot images at 8 fps bursts. Other rumored specs include a tilting screen, additional battery grip, fast AF, and more. No price details have surfaced as of yet, but we only need to wait a week to find out the full details.

[via NDTV]

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), The Verge noted that TV companies had largely given up on 3D displays. A small company called Voxon is not about to give up on the idea, especially because their device actually projects light in three dimensions. They call it the Voxiebox.

In simple terms, Voxiebox displays a 3D image by aiming a laser projector at a screen that’s rapidly moving up and down. The 3D image is a bit like the light trails produced through long exposure photography, except this one’s happening in real-time. Your view of the image or video being displayed changes appropriately as you move around the Voxiebox, as if you were looking at a physical object.

The video below shows Voxon co-founders Will Tamblyn and Gavin Smith talking about how Voxiebox came about. Sadly the sound is worse than the video’s quality, which is a shame because their presentation is informative and inspiring.

As you can see the current prototype of the Voxiebox has a very low resolution, a death sentence in an industry stuck in PPI cold wars and currently under attack from the 4K marketing blitzkrieg. Another challenge facing Voxon is that content has to be made specifically for the display. You can’t just hook it up to your PC, media player or console and expect to see Call of Duty or Game of Thrones in volumetric 3D. Which is why it’s perfectly understandable that Voxon is aiming its first Voxiebox units not to home users but to arcades. On the other hand… arcades? Like, who-goes-to-arcades-anymore-arcades? Good luck.

Still, Voxon believes that their device will carve its own niche. Last year Polygon came up with an interesting story about Joseph White, an eccentric game developer who’s working on a game and game platform called Voxatron. Voxatron’s world is made out of voxels – volumetric pixels – and Polygon said White made his game imagining that Voxiebox would one day exist. Voxiebox, meet Voxatron:

That’s cool and all, but I don’t think that Voxatron or 3D chess (Voxchess?) is Voxiebox’s killer app. Aside from having a more respectable resolution, I think the device would capture the public’s attention and support more effectively if it worked closely with motion sensors. The strength of 3D objects is that they’re tangible – I think Voxon needs to seize that strength.

Take CastAR for example. Industry reputation and connections aside, Technical Illusions is getting the support they need with its augmented reality device because they’re taking cues from the tangible world. The great news here is that display-wise Voxiebox is much better than CastAR’s complicated setup. Voxon just needs to find the right artwork to paint on its canvas.

[via ExtremeTech]

Miniatures and figurines are some of the best aspects of tabletop gaming. But if you’re playing a tabletop RPG, you might not be satisfied with the figurines that come with your game or even the ones you can buy online. And while we already have relatively affordable 3D modeling software and 3D printers, it requires a bit of training to use those tools. Hero Forge wants to meet you halfway.

Currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, Hero Forge will let you create your own figurines right from your browser. Hero Forge’s web-based creation tool looks a lot like the character creation screen in many video games. Its options include gender, clothes, weapons and poses. Naturally, your character’s 3D model will instantly reflect your choices. Once you’re satisfied you can then order a 3D print of your figurine from the tool itself.

The founders of Hero Forge claim that 3D printing has big advantages over injection molding, one of them being the ability to print on demand. Miniature makers that use injection molding have to make products in batches for the process to be cost-efficient, which means they’ll only make designs that they think are guaranteed to sell. But with a 3D printing service like Hero Forge, you can create and print a miniature even if you’re the only one in the world who’s willing to buy what you made.

Apparently, 3D printers can also pull off aesthetic tricks that are hard to emulate through injection molding, such as interior or recessed details as well as moving parts.

Another advantage of Hero Forge is that you can easily scale the size of your created character. Hero Forge plans to offer three sizes at launch: 28mm, 3in and 6in.

Customers will also have two print qualities to choose from. One is very durable and cheap but not suited for painting, while the other one is more expensive but is very detailed and is suited for painting.

Finally, like many video games Hero Forge will save your 3D models. You can have them reprinted, modified or both as often as you like.

Pledge at least $20 (USD) on Kickstarter to receive a customized miniature as a reward. It would be awesome if the creation tool allowed you to upload your own designs for even more customization. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a miniature that looks just like you?

Fujifilm has announced a new weatherproof digital camera called the FinePix S1. The camera has massive 50x optical zoom and features robust image stabilization. Its lens has a 35mm equivalent of 24-1200mm and it has a 1cm super macro mode. That mode allows the camera to focus on objects only 1cm from the lens.

The camera has a 16.4MP resolution using a 1/2.3-inch backlit CMOS sensor, and its 5-axis image stabilization is designed to reduce shake no matter what direction the camera is moving in. The S1 has a fast autofocus speed of 0.14 seconds and a startup time of 0.68 seconds. That means that the camera can get ready and shoot images quickly. It can shoot bursts at up to 10fps.

The rear LCD has variable angles and a razor-sharp 920k dot resolution. Fujifilm also equips the S1 with a time-lapse shooting function that can take an image every 10 min for up to six hours. Other features include HD resolution movie recording, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a number of advanced artistic filters.

Pricing and availability for the FinePix S1 is unannounced.