Sunny Man’s Blog

November 10th 2006

(0) Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth

Internet, Misc., News, Technology

When it was announced in July 2006, I was particularly interested in Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth because of the multiple possibilities of the concept. Since the first screenshots were shown in the same month, the Photosynth crew has been working like mad and today they released a technology preview of the software. My first impression? Amazing. Photosynth takes a collection of photos and arranges them into a three-dimensional model on screen and in real time. The results are amazing and I cannot believe this is not even in beta phase! Read on for a full review.

Photosynth gives you wings

As I’ve said, Photosynth takes a collection of photos and arranges them into a three-dimensional model of whatever they show. You can then walk and fly around the model, viewing selected photos from each area of the model. The model allows you to see where photos were taken in relation to where other photos were taken. Even you may not remember where you’ve taken each photo from but the algorithm behind Photosynth can work out where each photo was taken, and what it is of, just by looking at other photographs in the collection - rather clever.

You’ll notice that as a collection is analysed, a bunch of dots start to appear. In a matter of a few seconds you start to recognise features such as buildings, columns, doors and spires. The software analyses each photo and picks out distinctive features like the edges of windows and the edge of buildings and creates a three-dimensional model out of the dots. By comparing photos, Photosynth can also calculate the distance between objects and so create a 3-D view. It’s amazing stuff and it really does work. By flying around the model, you can make out buildings, roofs and even roads just by zooming in and out of the matrix of coloured dots.

Controlling the Seadragon

Photosynth works by incorporating the technology of Seadragon, which Microsoft acquired in February 2006, which means that scrolling, zooming and any other transitions and transformations are extremely smooth and fast. The user interface is rather nice and the ‘leaf buttons’ in the top right of the screen is very easy to use and understand. This technology preview provides 3 areas of user interaction: the ‘leaf buttons’, the 4 movements arrows to the sides, top and bottom and the photo viewer at the bottom of the screen. The ‘leaf buttons’ are understandable by the icons on them. The letter icon allows you to e-mail a particular view to a friends - or even a whole collection of photos - via e-mail, the camera icon lets you see where each picture was taken from in the model, the group icon lets you find pictures that are like the one you’re currently viewing, the orbit icon allows you to ’swing’ around the model as if you were flying, there’s the obligatory zoom in and zoom out buttons and the home icon lets you view the photo that most incorporates the whole model.

Those are the 7 very simple, very intuitive controls that would probably be most used. The bottom of the screen offers the user a chance to browse photos that are near the current photo they’re viewing. Every time you view a different photo on the model, the horizontal bar shuffles itself to show the current photo’s thumbnail and also the thumbnails of any photos near it. The movements are very smooth and the bar also gives you the option to zoom in on the current photo if there’s a better quality photo of an area within it.

Uses of Photosynth

Photosynth has a world of possible uses ahead of it. On the official site, they say uses could include the obvious revolution in how we view our photos for example. Another use they hope to reach would be to utilise the part of the software that looks for like images in another way. Say you found a picture on the internet of somewhere but didn’t know what the place was called - all you’d do was take a picture of it with a phone or a screenshot and use the software to look for the image and any information provided with it. It’s all very exciting and interesting.

Another use, and one potentially more profitable for Microsoft, would be aiming the software at gaming companies. This software can create an almost complete three-dimensional model from a bunch of pictures - this is much quicker than creating one from scratch and is also much more realistic as it’s literally based on real dimensions and a real environment. With the rise of high definition televisions, games and the demand for more and more realistically graphic games, this software could become invaluable. If adapted correctly, there could be a huge demand from the games industry.

My final thoughts

There are multiple, practical uses of this software even at it’s current stage of development. If the developers behind it see their dream come true, we will change the way we look at our photos. Personally, I don’t think it will make a huge impact but it’s certainly an innovative way of browsing your photos at a particular destination. I like the user interface and smooth controls that the software employs as the transitions are very natural and I encountered no lag what so ever when using it.

I do have some beef though in that Photosynth has been built as an ActiveX control rather than a standalone piece of software. This alienates a lot of people from using the software. Although you really expect Microsoft to use their own proprietary formats, screenshots had suggested that it was going to be an installable piece of software. Overall, I like it a lot and can’t wait until another release is announced where we can provide our own photo collections to be analysed. The preview shows the immense power of the software and would be a great companion to the Windows Vista operating system as well. Go and have a look (Internet Explorer 6 and 7 only at the moment) and try it out. Leave a comment if you would.

Update: I’ve been informed by a developer that they’re going to provide some logos people can use and some cool desktop backgrounds on their site later today. Thanks David Geyde!

October 25th 2006

(0) Mozilla Firefox 2

Blogging, Internet, Misc., News, Technology

I couldn’t go without doing a post on Mozilla Firefox 2, could I now. Yesterday night, Mozilla released the much awaited next version of their ever popular web browser Firefox. The launch wasn’t as publicised or, it seemed, as important as the 1.0 launch but none the less it took place and made a lot of people happy. The launch of version 2 of the browser has meant the inclusion of some much needed features, a user interface refresh and both minor and major bug fixes (although one still hasn’t been fixed even though they say they have! The release of the new version has brought about World Firefox Day, Firefox Party, an improved add-ons site (that has a search that actually searches for what you tell it to) and even a commemorative t-shirt (which I have!), but is all the hype that surrounded this version worth it? Make up your own mind at the end of this post, if you will. So, when is version 3 out anyway…

New Features

Firefox 2 introduces some new features like automatic in-built spell checking, a new default theme and phishing protection. All these things were provided by third-party extensions in previous versions of Firefox but are now built in for ease of use. I’m particularly pleased that a spell checker has been implemented because it will mean less spelling mistakes in my posts! But, this also means that you can install different dictionaries so I can keep learning Spanish. The good thing about the spell checker is that it works with ‘interactive’ text areas such as TinyMCE and other - something it didn’t use to do.

The new default theme is… different from the previous ‘winstripe’ theme that Firefox had before (on Windows). Personally, I’m not a fan because the icons are a little dull for my liking and the go button is something also not to my taste. But, apparently it’s had a very warm reception anyway. The theme introduces an update on the way Firefox handles tabs as well. Tabs now have their own individual close buttons and they’re styled differently and I do have to say it looks pretty nice the way the tabs are styled. At the right end of the tabs bar there’s also a drop-down list of open tabs so selecting one if you’ve a few tabs open is now easier than going through all of them via trial and error.

With the new release, Mozilla have put a lot of emphasis on security by introducing a phishing filter. In previous versions of Firefox this was also provided by a third-party extension such as the Google Toolbar but is now provided by both Mozilla and Google, in-built into Firefox. This is handy and puts the browser in good running with the less experienced web users as well as internet regulars such as myself, ahem :). As usual, if you use Google as your phishing filter, every website you visit is sent to them and this may deter some users from using the service (as was discussed in a previous post on Google).

Another feature that’s been introduced, following in the footsteps of Opera is session restoration. Firefox can now restore tabs you’ve lost or if you close the browser accidentally, you can open it again with the sites you were viewing before it closed. This is a very nifty feature for those who underestimate the might of their mouse!

Enhancements

There has been a lot of enhancements applied to Firefox 2. These include thousands of bug fixes and security upgrades. Firefox is one of the, if not the, most safest free web browser available on the internet thanks to thousands of security experts. The enhancements that have been made include upgraded security, more customisation options and improved feed viewing as well as the others I’ve mentioned above.

Firefox 2, as I’ve mentioned, introduces a phishing filter to help stop identity theft as well as a number of bug fixes but it also introduces a better add-on (themes and extensions) manager as well as a search engine manager and a new options interface. They’re all designed to make things easier, simpler and more aesthetically pleasing but at the same time providing more options for the user. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of available extensions and themes available for everyone to utilise - only Firefox offers that amount of customisation. The new options interface features some new icons as well as the new options for handling web feeds and the new security options. It’s all presented neatly and is actually very inviting. There are loads of options you can edit to your liking and they’re all sub-divided as well; how handy.

The Firefox Following

Firefox has a huge following of almost every type of user you can think of. In just over two years, Firefox has jumped into the mainstream limelight and was pushed into a market that was begging for an alternative to Internet Explorer and Safari. Almost everyone I know uses Firefox and if they don’t, they don’t use Internet Explorer. It’s a testament to the Mozilla folks and everyone who’s contributed to Firefox that the word is now out. Rocket Boom did a piece a while back where they went out into the city and asked random people whether they used Internet Explorer or Firefox. The results were surprising to many - the word of Mozilla Firefox had spread further than many had thought. Look how far it’s come.

Mozilla Firefox is gaining more and more of the market share every month and Microsoft is losing share every month. Community sites like SpreadFirefox are a hub of communication for suggestions, news and experiences between users and it’s free, open and inviting. Mozilla has expanded into Europe and Japan and is selling merchandise to help fund their venture - something worth while in my opinion. For some reason Mozilla fuels it’s community, it empowers them to make their products better. You can put names and faces to the people of Mozilla like Aza Dotzler and Ben Goodger unlike some other browsers which makes it a more personal affair.

The Best Thing

I carried out a small and simple survey over MSN Windows Live Messenger while writing this and asked people what’s the one best thing about Firefox in your opinion?. These were the top 5 answers I received with the top answer being the most popular:

1. Tabbed browsing
2. Easy to use
3. New security features
4. Session restore feature
5. Customisation options

So, Firefox 2. In the words of Cow, is Firefox fixing the wheel or is it just reinventing it? Try it out for your self, download it now and give it a whirl. Check out the add-on site also to extend Firefox’s capabilities.

October 19th 2006

(0) WebSnapr, Wordpress Plugin

Internet, News, Programming

Unobtrusive JavaScript seems to be all the rage lately with the likes of moo.fx, reflection.js and now WebSnapr. I was pointed to this service via Digg.com and I really like it so I’d thought I would share it with you. WebSnapr, as you can tell by the name, sells itself as a “Web 2.0″ service and provides a service that generates thumbnails of websites for you in (near) real time. It’s already been implemented into a Wordpress theme by XSBlog, for which I’m thankful.

The Wordpress plugin takes provides two options: make all the links popup a thumbnail or use a CSS class to select which links you use the service with. And remember, this uses an external service to generate the thumbnails so if that has high traffic or goes offline, no images will load. At the moment the plugin features no check to see whether the service is working or not. The plugin works seamlessly and provides an options page in the administration area.

Although WebSnapr doesn’t employ a relatively new idea, it does implement it in a new way. Unlike the program I have on my server to generate a full-size image of an entire webpage, WebSnapr externally generates a small thumbnail of the website so users can see what the link looks like before they go to it. I like this idea not only because it looks really nice on any page layout, but because it’s unobtrusive and is easily implementable on almost any platform. Check it out and implement it!

September 22nd 2006

(0) Wii Promo Videos

Gaming, Misc., News

In the spirit of the news that one more retailer is now taking pre-orders for the Wii, I’ve decided to post a video that I think you’ll like. Shows just some of the titles that will be available from when the console launches to about 3 months in to 2007. Enjoy.

Direct Link: http://ms.nintendo-europe.com/wii/wii_video_001.swf