Photo Tourism

Microsoft Live Labs: Photosynth

Photosynth is an amazing new technology from Microsoft Live Labs that will change the way you think about digital photos forever.

Gotta love sweeping overly dramatic product descriptions…(generally it’s good practice to avoid words like “forever”).

Photosynth takes a large collection of photos of a place or object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed 3-Dimensional space.

With Photosynth you can:

* Walk or fly through a scene to see photos from any angle.

* Seamlessly zoom in or out of a photograph whether it’s megapixels or gigapixels in size.

* See where pictures were taken in relation to one another.

* Find similar photos to the one you’re currently viewing.

* Explore a custom tour.

* Send a collection to a friend.

Well I have been putting off this post a few days in hopes that they would finally release this public technology demonstration that they said is coming soon, but that doesn’t seem to be happening just yet. Sooo, I thought I’d go ahead and write a little bit about this. Let me just start by point this out:

The above link to “Photo Tourism” is only loosely based on what you’ll see once this software is ready. The Photo Tourism example is also up on a server somewhere running inside Java. Needless to say (but it needs to be pointed out), it runs a lot slower than it will when it’s on your computer.

Software or ideas come along like Photosynth maybe once a year or so. This is definitely one of those things that make the nerdy parts of my brain tingle with excitement. The possibilities for this Photosynth software are virtually impossible to fathom. The technology could be applied to medical imagining, tourism (as the rough example shows), real estate, and a plethora of other fields. I don’t want to say “this is what it does and what it can do” simply because the example I am linking to is not exactly the newest version of the code. Once we get the first public technology preview a in depth write up will soon follow.

So, play with the demo…learn what type of things this technology enables, and generally try to hold yourself back from saying “oh wow” and “ok, that is cool” more than 10 times. (I said both of those at least 18 times).

Bill to Ban Social Sites in Schools Moves to Senate

MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, Bebo and other social networking sites would be banned from schools and libraries in the U.S., if a bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives becomes law. Called the Deleting Online Predators Act or DOPA, the bill passed the House last week in a overwhelming vote of 416-15. Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA), who introduced the legislation, has said that many social networking sites are “hunting grounds” for child predators. The bill now goes to the Senate within the next month, where it is expected to pass, and then to President Bush for his expected signature.

Ok, let me start off with the key point that I will be stressing with this posting: Are you F-ing kidding me?

According to this bill, that frighteningly enough may be approved in the very near future, social networking sites would be banned from public computers and other federally funded computer centers. Why you might ask? They would be banned because they may be used as a “hunting grounds for child predators”. Since when has the solution to a problem (child predators) been to close up shop and run away? This is not a solution to the problem, this is running away like a coward and letting these demented child predators win. This bill will not help to stop the problem of people preying on children, this will simply shift where it occurs.

What will happen if this bill passes and library computers and colleges block these social networking sites? The community will then be filled with the only people left who can access these sites: even younger children. These social networking sites will then be primarily used by kids ranging from elementary school to high school accessing these sites from home where they would not be blocked. How is that a way of solving the problem? If we used this pattern of problem solving to combat the “War on Terror” we would just stop using air planes because they might be used again for harm. What an absolute joke of a bill. Nothing like a bunch of crusty old white men with no idea about technology ignoring the real problems they should be dealing with (stem cell, abortion, gay marriage, etc). I am sorry, but if this passes it will mark the continual downfall of American culture (or lack there of).