Kodak OLEDing the Way Again

Kodak, once the leading light in the photography biz were famously caught by surprise by the speed at which digital photography took. Despite launching some useful digicams, it has never really come close to regaining its former status. Now, however, they’re leading the way once again, this time with the world’s first consumer photo frame using OLED or Organic Light Emitting Diode technology.

OLEDs, in case you didn’t know, are super thin, and unlike LCDs, do not rely on a backlight. They also offer superior contrast ratios and although not a factor in this application, can be made to be flexible. The display used in this frame is 7.6 inches (measured diagonally); it’s a widescreen format with 800 x 480 pixel resolution and it boasts a contrast ratio of 30,000:1. The viewing angle – another OLED advantage – is 180 degrees. Read More »

Right-Click Photo Utilities

Here’s an ingenious little program, or more correctly, a Shell Extension, called appropriately enough XnView Shell Extension that adds extra functionality to your right-click menus. Simply download and install the program and when you next open Windows Explorer, or My Computer, navigate your way to a folder containing image files. Right click on one of them and you’ll see a whole load of new options appear, including info about the file, the option to convert the file into .gif, .bmp, .jpeg, .pcx, .png. .tiff or .tga format, set as wallpaper, view as a variable sized thumbnail, and much more. Give it a whirl, I think you will be impressed!

Colourful Clicks

You are going to like this one. It’s called Rainbow Folders and it allows you to change the colour of your folders, the ones that appear in Windows Explorer, and any Explorer type window (Open, Save Save As etc.). This makes life a lot easier, instead of everything being in drab yellow, your important or most frequently used folders, really stand out and are therefore much easier to find, or avoid.

Okay, so it’s not exactly a new idea, but unlike similar utilities, you can specify any colour you like from the palette, rather than just a few presets. Read More »

How One-way Mirrors Work

A one-way mirror is basically just like any other mirror, just that it has the ability of reflecting light on one side while on the other, it is transparent. Typical mirrors achieve a high degree of reflectiveness on one side, leaving the reverse opaque to optical light. This is done by covering the glass layer with a silvered coating. One-way mirrors, however, use half silvered surfaces in order to achieve a balance between reflectiveness and transparency, in combination with carefully adjusted amounts of light.

Practically, the silvered coating is only half of that of a typical mirror, meaning that it reflects half of the incoming light, leaving the other half pass right through. The concept is relatively similar to that used in lasers. Inside a laser, photons of light are being bounced between two mirrors, one with 100 percent reflectiveness and the other with 99 percent. Read More »

Canon Prints on the Move

It might look like something you would use to keep your sandwiches and a cold drink in, but what you are looking at here is the new Canon Selphy CP770 ‘home photo lab’ dye sublimation colour printer. The integrated carry-pack makes it easy to transport and it also provides storage space for paper and consumables, and an optional battery pack. Features include a bright, angled 2.5-inch LCD, it has a memory card reader for direct printing, there’s auto image correction with face brightness compensation, auto red eye correction, infrared data link and big, easy to use controls. Prints take around 52 seconds and Canon reckons they should last upwards of 100 years, we shall see…

Sunny Side Up, Again

One day I will check my archives but I suspect that I have been writing about the imminent arrival of low cost, flexible photovoltaic solar cells for at least the past 20 years. The idea seems simple enough. Instead of making solar cells out of expensive and fragile silicon and glass and in the process using more energy than they’ll ever generate in their useful lives develop a chemical cocktail that turns light into electricity and coat or print it onto other materials.

Well, here’s another one, and I’m no longer holding my breath, but as usual it all sounds very promising. Konarka, the company behind the technology has come up with a flexible ‘Power Plastic’ film using inkjet printing techniques. Read More »

Free Tourist Terminator

We’ve all been there… You find yourself at some exotic location, trying to take a once in a lifetime picture of a famous landmark or some picturesque scenery when a gormless tourist, car or bus wanders into the frame. There’s nothing like an articulated lorry or daft-looking stranger to spoil a classic, potentially award-winning photograph, but what can you do?

The answer is simple, keep still and shooting. Take as many pictures as you can then when you get home run the images through a piece of software called Tourist Remover. It’s ingenious, it checks the images, finds all of the bits without moving objects, tourists and so on, then stitches them together and hey presto, a clean photo with no hideous holidaymakers spoiling the view.

Top Taches Online

It’s been a while since featured a really pointless Top Tip, so here’s one, that’s also a lot of fun. It’s called petmoustach.com and the idea is you upload a portrait then use the tools on the website to create an eye-catching, soup-straining lip cosy. You can choose the colour style and shape, and use the Tonic, razor and wax tools to trim it into shape and apply a few finishing touches, and throughout you’ll be regaled with some lively western banjo music. When you’ve finished you can save the image, so if you’ve ever wondered what you, or your nearest and dearest would look like with a wild walrus or handsome handlebar, give it a try y’hear, y’all…

Photo Sharing Service in 38 Languages

Picasa Web Albums or Google’s photo sharing service is now available in 38 languages after the Picasa team included support for several new countries. Among the new ones, I can mention Bulgarian, Hindi, Slovenian, Filipino or Thai. In addition, Picasa Web Albums was improved with mobile support which enables the consumers to access their service anytime from any location. As you can see, the Mountain View company struggles to make its technologies available in more and more languages around the world, because “it’s a priority for us to bring our products in you language”, as Michael Champlin stated at the Google Apps presentation a few days ago in Bucharest, Romania. Read More »