Arecont Vision AV3135 Dual Sensor H.264 Surveillance Camera Debuts

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Surveillance camera manufacturer Arecont vision has unveiled a new surveillance camera to keep an eye on things called the AV3135 Day/Night camera. The camera has both high-resolution megapixel images in the day combined with low-light sensitivity for night time use.

The camera uses H.264 technology to deliver full frame rates and video streams at various resolutions. The camera has two 1/2" CMOS sensors inside with a 3MP color sensor and a spate 1.3MP black and white for low light use. Read more

Posted on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:00:00 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Wii Vitality Sensor Unveiled at E3

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Moments ago, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata gave us a glimpse at the future of the Wii. The Wii Vitality Sensor, which looks like a pulsoximeter that attaches to the Wiimote, is Mr. Iwata's newest brainchild. He bills the Vitality Sensor as a relaxation and health device.

Basically, the sensor measures your pulse rate and then allows you to "see information relating to the inner world of your body". Iwata claims that people will be able to help themselves relax, lower their heart rate, and even get to sleep by playing the games that will come out with the vitality sensor. Nintendo is basically billing this as a way to measure and lower your level of stress through a series of Wii 'exercises'.

Posted on Tue, 2 Jun 2009 12:23:32 CDT | by Robert Evans

Microsoft E3 Rumors: MSG4 for Xbox 360, Xbox Fluid Motion Sensor, Richter Game

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A man claiming to be a well-placed gaming journalist has been leaking Microsoft rumors via his twitter account. The journalist, who goes by "Game Fork" on twitter, has an awful lot of information about Microsoft's E3 line-up, and what he says seems to gel with what we've already heard confirmed. We won't know if "Game Fork" is on the level until E3, but we've got his whole list of rumors here, to keep you up on the latest E3 info.

Posted on Thu, 14 May 2009 11:40:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

3DV To Make 360 Motion Sensors.

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With the Wii's massive success, it was only going to be a matter of time before Microsoft and Sony got in bed with motion-capturing technology as well. Last week we reported on some leaked photos up on Engadget that showed the Xbox hooked up to a motion sensor. Now we finally have confirmation of both the sensor's capabilities, and its origins.

3DV, an Israeli company working on a cheap, next-gen motion capture technology, looks like it will be bringing its ZCam technology to the 360. There have been rumors for a while that Microsoft intended to purchase 3DV, and now ars technica is reporting that they have actually seen the ZCam in action.

Posted on Wed, 6 May 2009 11:00:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Acer Unveils 23-inch Sensor Touch Display and Updates PC Line

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I'm not sure what is up with Acer and its seeming inability to provide photos with any new products it announces lately (if you are reading this Acer, please fix that), but the computer maker has announced a few new products. The company has introduced a new 23-inch LCD with Sensor Touch and updated its computers.

The display is called the Acer H233H bmid and uses Sensor Touch technology for touch-sensitive controls. The display has a 1920 x 1080 resolution and offers a 40000:1 contrast ratio, 300 cd/m2 of brightness and a 5ms response time. Read more

Posted on Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Fujitsu Offers Waterproof Cell with Fingerprint Sensor

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NTT DOCOMO is now offering the world's first fingerprint enabled and waterproof cell phone called the Fujitsu F-01A. The handset uses a fingerprint sensor for security that takes advantage of AuthenTec's TouchStone packaging.

The fingerprint sensor acts as a touchpad for navigating the phones menus. The handset runs the Symbian operating system, offers a 3.5-inch VGA touchscreen display, has a 5.2-megapixel camera with auto focus, and has built-in GPS. Read more

Posted on Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:55:31 CST | by Shane McGlaun

New 5MP Image Sensor for HD Video Camera Phones from Aptina

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Aptina has announced the launch of its latest image sensor for camera phones called the MT9P013 5MP image sensor. The sensor was designed with the mobile market in mind and features a 1.75-micron pixel, 1/3.2 inch optical format.

The coolest part about the new sensor is that it supports 720p HD video capture at 60 fps and full 5MP resolution images at 15 fps. The sensor also offers improvements in low-light sensitivity of 2x over previous generations of sensors. Mass production of the new sensor is expected by the end of January. Read more

Posted on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Black Silicon seen to have broad Impact on Solar Cells and Sensors

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Black Silicon is a new material developed at Harvard by physicist Eric Mazur. According to the NY Times Harvard is supposed to announce today a licensing agreement with startup SiOnyx to commercialize the new promising material.
Black Silicon was more or less created on a hunch of Dr. Mazur, you could also call it creativity.
Black Silicon is extremely sensitive to light and will find its first commercial use in night vision goggles. Read more

Posted on Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:39:32 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

50MP CCD Image Sensor unveiled by Kodak

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Eastman Kodak Company unveiled the world’s first 50 million pixel CCD image sensor for professional photography.

At 50 million pixels, or megapixels, the sensor captures digital images with unprecedented resolution and detail. For instance, with a 50 megapixel camera, in an aerial photo of a field 1-½ miles across, you could detect an object about the size of a small notebook computer (1 foot by 1 foot).
What’s more, the KODAK KAF-50100 Image Sensor features a newly designed pixel that is smaller in size than the pixel used in current products for this professional market. This new pixel also reduces “click-to-capture” time for improved camera response, lowers power consumption for improved battery life, and improves color fidelity without compromising on the benefits to be enjoyed from larger pixel sizes. Read more

Posted on Tue, 8 Jul 2008 08:00:25 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

World's smallest Triaxial Acceleration Sensor

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Hitachi unveiled what the call the world's smallest Triaxial Acceleration Sensor.

Measuring 2.5x2.5x1mm and weighing just 14mg, this component is really small.
The piezoresistive sensor uses the displacement caused by the acceleration of a weight based on MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) technology is detected as a deflection in the silicon beam supporting the weight. The deflection is measured based on the variation of resistance in a piezoresistor formed in the Si beam. Read more

Posted on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:05:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

STMicroelectronics New CMOS Sensor Makes Camera Phones Smaller

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STMicroelectronics introduces the smallest single-chip camera sensor for mobile applications today. The CMOS sensor provides a 2 megapixel mobile-phone camera sensor with low space requirements.

The sensor is called the VD6725 and is a 1.5 inch optical-format image sensor with a 1600 x 1200 pixel array. The sensor is designed to fit into camera phones under 6x6x3.8 mm. Read more

Posted on Fri, 8 Feb 2008 08:33:52 CST | by Shane McGlaun

New Sharp Touch-Screen has Photo Sensor in each Pixel

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Sharp announces a new touch-screen LCD display for portable devices that has sensor elements inside each pixel.

Supposedly the display can also be used as an image scanner and the image quality is improved as no additional film on top of the display is necessary.

The new Sharp display is 3.5 inch in size and features QVGA resolution. Read more

Posted on Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:23:26 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Balda announces large Contract for Mobile Phone Touch Sensors

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German Balda AG announces that it has won a large contract to deliver touch sensors for a mobile phone manufacturer.

The contract requires delivering 6 to 8 million touch sensors per year.
Balda did not disclose the customer. In June Balda made headlines as Apple was said to have ordered touch screens for the iPhone from Balda. Read more

Posted on Mon, 27 Aug 2007 04:51:08 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

2.4Ghz Baby Monitor with Night Vision Camera and Bedwetting Sensor

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Chinese company Goscam sent us information about their latest baby monitor. This baby monitor has a night vision camera with a range of 5m.

The images of your baby are transmitted via 2.4Ghz technology with a range of up to 100m.

The receiver has a 2.5 inch color screen with a resolution of 480x240px. Besides the camera there is of course also a microphone installed to transmit sound.
Apparently there are accessories for the Goscam (somehow a bad name: "go scam") that detect bedwetting or motion. Read more

Posted on Tue, 3 Jul 2007 05:05:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Panasonic develops Robust Image Sensor using Inorganic Material

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Matsushita (Panasonic) developed a new robust image sensor. The new image sensor would not decay under harsh sunlight for more than 20 years.

Unlike traditional image sensors with polymer onchip microlenses and dyed color filters, the revolutionary MOS image sensor has digital-microlenses and photonic color filters, both made of inorganic materials that are inherently fade-resistant and quite robust. Read more

Posted on Mon, 14 May 2007 10:10:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Biosensor sniffs out explosives

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Temple University School of Medicine researchers have developed a new biosensor that sniffs out explosives and could one day be used to detect landmines and deadly agents, such as sarin gas, according to a paper in the June issue of Nature Chemical Biology.

To create the biosensor, Danny Dhanasekaran and colleagues genetically engineered a yeast strain with mammalian (rat) olfactory signaling machinery and genetically linked it to the expression of green fluorescent protein. Into these yeast cells, they cloned individual rat olfactory receptors. When the olfactory receptor "smells" the odor of DNT, an ingredient in the explosive TNT, the biosensor turns fluorescent green. Read more

Posted on Wed, 9 May 2007 12:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sensor Scope Helps Clean Your DSLR Camera

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If you shoot pics with a digital SLR camera and change lens frequently you know how easy it is to get dirt and debris onto the CCD of your camera. If the CCD is not cleaned the dirt and debris will show up in your pictures.

Seeing where the tiny dirt particles are on the CCD of your camera is one of the most difficult parts of the cleaning process. To help make that easier the Sensor Scope uses a 5x magnifier and four built-in LED lights. Read more

Posted on Thu, 8 Mar 2007 15:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Splitfish SensorFX adds Rumble to Sony PS3 SIXAXIS

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Gaming accessory company Splitfish already brought motion sensing to the PS2 controller. Now the bring rumble back onto the Sony PS3 controller with the SensorFX.

To avoid issues with Immersion’s Rotating Mass Patent, Splitfish uses technology with no moving parts. We are in contact with Splitfish about a photo of the SensorFX, but they do not have one yet.

It will be interesting how well this works. Splitfish is creative that is for sure. We got in contact with them back in 2005 when they introduced the eyeFX 3D glasses for the PS2.
Read more

Posted on Wed, 31 Jan 2007 10:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Fingerprint Sensor So Small It'll Fit Anything

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Fingerprint sensors are nothing new. It's a common thing for computers, and the abnormally paranoid can secure their homes with fingerprint-sensitive locks. However, the sensors themselves have remained relatively thick.

That is, until Seiko Epson came along and unveiled this super-thin fingerprint reader. Seiko boasts that this sensor is so small that it could fit anything, such as a credit card. Read more

Posted on Mon, 31 Jul 2006 06:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Nintendo Wii Sensor

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Yesterday more details about the Nintendo Wii Controller have been revealed at the E3 2006 presevent of the game maker.

As reported yesterday, the Wii Remote lets you wave and point. It also rumbles for force feedback and has a built-in speaker for sound effects (you know swoosh, slurrrp, knock,...).

Besides the nunchuck motion controller there is a third part of the Nintendo Wii controller system. It looks like a long thin sensor strip that has to be placed on top or in front of the TV.
Read more

Posted on Wed, 10 May 2006 09:37:24 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

MacWorld 2006: Eleksen Fabric Sensor Music Case for iPod

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Fabric Sensor company Eleksen will introduce a iPod music case at the MacWorld 2006 this week.

I met Elekson last year at the CES 2005, where they demoed products that make use of their fabric sensors.
Eleksen has developed the only MP3 player case with external volume controls for both headphones and speakers.
The generic case for mp3 players supports volume control (see photo). The iPod music case has 5 fabric buttons to control an iPod: Play/Pause, Track Forward, Track Back, Volume Up, Volume Down and iPod ON/OFF. So you never might see your iPod again, it will stay inside the case forever. Read more

Posted on Mon, 9 Jan 2006 10:11:21 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr