VIDEOTake a Fast Look
Videocameras and other devices convert pictures of the real world into bits using something called a charge-coupled device, or CCD. It’s a nifty technology, but newer “cameras on a chip”–silicon chips with sensors and imaging electronics–use less power than CCDs and are lighter and cheaper. They’re getting better, too. Photobit, a leading developer, has a new version with resolution of more than a million pixels and a speed of 500 frames per second (movie cameras operate at about 25 fps). That’s fast enough for a computer to catch a license plate flashing past a tollbooth or analyze complicated motion like a golf swing–while making that Hi-8 camera easier to lug on vacation.
MUSICHuh? What Did He Say?
The internet’s top source for pop-music lyrics has returned from a five-month legal lapse. The International Lyrics Server (www.lyrics.ch) first posted the lyrics of 116,000 songs in 1997. But a complaint from the National Music Publishers Association pulled the private library’s plug in January. The two have since settled. Now users can only type phrases to search for corresponding artists, songs or albums. So if ILS doesn’t match what you think R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe mumbled, you’re lyrically out of luck.
FOODSome Words to Chew On
After MIT’s Media Lab acquired its new plastic-cutting laser, graduate student David Small decided to have some fun. He used the $40,000 machine to make intricate etchings on food. Now food and candy companies are interested. Coming soon: stock quotes on cookies and ads on our cukes?
