The 3D creating backpack has 4 lasers and cameras which map the interior as the wearer walks

At UC Berkeley, the same team behind 3D views of major cities on Google Earth has created a mapping technology “that scans its surroundings and creates an instant 3D model”. The device takes the form of a backpack, where an array of lasers, cameras, and an Inertial Measurement Unit all combine to form a final product of a 3D, textured model. Lasers calculate geometry of the surroundings, while the cameras capture panoramic textures of the area behind the pack. Although Google Earth’s 3D images were created using GPS technology, the same cannot be said for the 3D Backpack. Since GPS and satellite imagery does not work indoors, the IMU combined with the geometry of lasers, localize the pack, allowing for the precise navigation of an indoor environment.

Professor Avideh Zakhor, who leads the team at Cal Berkeley says, “One day, you’ll have a little pack of sensors on your belt. And, as you walk inside buildings, you collect data about everything. Every location in the universe, both indoors and outdoors will eventually be mapped and we’ll have it all online. So, without ever going anywhere, you can see what everybody’s interior looks like.” Good or bad,  an indoor 3D model would trump having to read those confusing mall maps.

Innovative and cutting-edge, the team at Cal Berkeley is trailblazing into the 3D era.

Laser backpack creates instant 3D models [KGO-TV San Francisco]
Laser backpack creates instant 3D maps, Venkman reminds you to not cross the streams (video) [engadget]
Automated, 3D Modeling of Building Interiors [UC Berkeley]

The post UC Berkeley team creates indoor 3D laser mapping technology… in a backpack appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Inon underwater X-2 housing for the DMC-GF1 with dual arms and lights

Unveiling its newest accessory for the Lumix DMC-GF1, Panasonic not only boasts the capabilities of the DMC to shoot on land, but also to snap photographs into the deep blue. A sleek, white aluminum alloy casing will protect the DMC for underwater adventures.

A Black model of the X-2 is going on sale near the end of August, and two optional grips and underwater lights are also available (shown below), turning the sleek GF1 into a heavy duty underwater diving rig. Operation depth is rated at 75 meters, being quite laudable for the consumer camera that it is, perhaps even pushing the GF1 into “prosumer” status. Accompanying this caliber, prices are also passing the threshold of the average consumer. The case will be selling for a whopping $2200, converted from its original price of 186’900 Yen. Add to that a $115 per grip arm, and you have yourself an expensive piece of equipment that dwarfs the $800 price tag for the camera itself.

Inon GF1 in White or Black

The post Inon’s surf and turf underwater case for the Panasonic DMC-GF1 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Details remain scarce, no release date or pricing information was announced. We do know, however, that it will be compact in size, and will be released by this years end. Panasonic also revealed the first consumer 3D video camcorder, see the details here.

The post Panasonic releases DSLR 3D conversion lens appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Google Street View vehicle pulled over for speeding Photo: Flickr user damianspain

Privacy International claims that data protection law does not usually permit the interception of communications this way.  “This action by Google cannot be blamed on the alleged ‘single engineer’ who wrote the code. It goes to the heart of a systematic failure of management and of duty of care.” said the company.

Jennifer Stoddart, Canada’s privacy commissioner plans to investigate how Google managed to infiltrate people’s networks and what impact it could have on Canadian’s privacy.

Along with Australia and Canada, Google will be handing out the 600 GB of personal data collected in Europe over to the governments of Germany, Spain, and France as stated by Google’s chief executive Eric E. Schmidt.

All of this seems as a rather stark contrast to Google’s mantra of a user’s privacy being one of its top priorities, doing good and not evil, but the issue at hand seems to be one of great importance and it may in fact hold the livelihood and public perception of Google is in dismay.

Source Code Analysis of gstumbler: "The gslite program parses some, though not all, information from 802.11 wireless frames read in from a source of wireless frames. It simultaneously receives geolocation coordinates from a GPS system and then associates each wireless frame with the time and approximate location in which it was received. The gslite program works in concert with a second program, Kismet, which must run simultaneously. Kismet controls one or more wireless cards on a Google vehicle and provides gslite with the stream of detected wireless frames. The relationship between gslite and Kismet is depicted in Figure 2."

The post Google’s Small Problem appeared first on Mobile Magazine.