DimP, a direct manipulation video player, lets users drag items on the video screen to move forward and back instead of just via a scroll bar on the bottom of the video. This is not only more fun, but it also allows users to scroll through video to where they want to be “at least two times faster,” In a paper presented by Pierre Dragicevic, Gonzalo Ramos, Jacobo Bibliowicz, Derek Nowrouzezahrai, Ravin Balakrishnan, Karan Singh from the University of Toronto, the authors present their method for browsing video by directly dragging content by “1) automatically extracting motion data from videos; and 2) a new technique called relative flow dragging that lets users control video playback by moving objects of interest along their visual trajectory.” Whatever that means, one thing’s for certain. At least some of these guys are going to be getting job offers from Adobe. Their paper and another video demonstration is below. Thanks for the tip Brian. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/wrapper.ashx?doc_id=615949&swf_url=http%3A//content1.docstoc.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Video+Browsing+by+Direct+Manipulation.pdf.swf&showrelated=0&showstats=0&enableFullScreen=1Video Browsing by Direct Manipulation – Get more Free Whitepapers → Read More
Today’s Top Posts: Researchers study locusts to make jumping robots Sanyo releases 7 inch digital photo frame in Japan N-Gage games can’t be transferred to new devices Poor economy leads to increase in CRT sales: Plasma, LCD too expensive Self-timer for lovers in new FujiFilm FinePix Z200fd Merch: Indiana Jones projector looks about as exciting as the movie looks good Miniature greenhouse takes up yet another USB port BioShock for PS3 confirmed Daily Crunch: A Wall Edition Details and release date of the Prada phone in Japan determined → Read More
New startup Infectious wants to satisfy that urge that we all undoubtedly have to spice up our car a little. Make it unique. Express our personality. Etc. Founder Tim Roberts, who was part of the founding Twitter team, says that your car is the most visible social product you own, but it is also the least expressive. Infectious sells specially designed vinyl stickers that can survive up to two years through car washes, the desert sun and Canadian winters, no problem. And when you want to take the stickers off because your friends won’t go near your car (or you need to sell it), you just blow a hair dryer on it for a few seconds and start peeling – your paint job won’t be affected. This is the same stuff they use to put advertisments on taxies and busses. You can purchase one small sticker (see TechCrunch writer Mark Hendrickson applying one to his car in the video below) or get stickers that cover the entire car. All of the designs are done by artists, who are paid for their work in exchange for granting exclusive licensing rights to print on vinyl. The artists retains all other rights. Eventually, Roberts says, users will likely have the ability to upload their own art and turn it into a product that they and/or others can buy. Infectious stickers don’t really compete with bumper stickers. It’s for people who may hire and artist to design art for a car and then get a custom paint job. These projects can easily run into the thousands of dollars, and aren’t reversible, so few people do it. Infectious wants to broaden that market to people who may do this on a whim, and then remove or change it later. The company raised a small round of funding last year from True Ventures. They are entering private beta today and plan to open up to all some time this summer. If you’d like to get in now, the first 100 people to email techcrunch@infectious.com will be given beta accounts and a 20% discount on all stickers. Here are two videos. The first is Roberts showing us his car with Infectious stickers. The second is our Mark Hendrickson bravely applying one of these to his own almost new Mazda (thanks to Loren Feldman for doing the video work). http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch%2Eblip%2Etv%2Frss&file=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Frss%2Fflash%2F934927%3Freferrer%3Dblip%2Etv%26source%3D1&showplayerpath=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Fscripts%2Fflash%2Fshowplayer%2Eswf http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch%2Eblip%2Etv%2Frss&file=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Frss%2Fflash%2F934931%3Freferrer%3Dblip%2Etv%26source%3D1&showplayerpath=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Fscripts%2Fflash%2Fshowplayer%2Eswf CrunchBase Information Infectious Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Want to relive that special manila moment again and again? Want to impress your pals at the cafe before they have second thoughts about the practicality of the sexy little device? Bird Electron is coming out with a pretty nice-looking little replacement envelope, complete with double-circle tie, but somewhat more durable and protective than heavy-duty paper. I’m not a fan of the Air, but if I had one, I’d definitely buy one of these for the precious li’l thing. Maybe it’s a “manileather” envelope. Either way, it’s not available yet. [via Akihabara News] → Read More
Now here is a point-and-shoot I might actually want to have around. My Rebel XT has served me fine for a couple years now, but I’d be wary of taking it whitewater rafting. This Pentax, however, will go 13 feet under the waves for a couple hours and be none the wetter inside. It’s sealed against dust and dirt as well as water, and will operate down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit. It has a 5x non-protruding zoom, a perfectly decent LCD, takes 720p video clips, and can focus as close as a centimeter, which is fantastic. At $330, it’s a bit expensive, but I think I can honestly say that I’d buy this over any other point-and-shoots I can think of off the top of my head. → Read More
Keeping up with your friends on social networks is hard work (enough so that many of us spend hours at it every week). Wouldn’t you like to make a few bucks for your trouble? Meet UrTurn, a new startup that hopes to create a unified virtual currency across all major social networks. The site has just launched in a public beta, and is currently available as a Facebook app (with MySpace coming shortly). The first 250 TechCrunch readers who sign up using the code ERAS4 here will receive 500 bonus points. In some respects UrTurn acts like a virtual pyramid scheme – users can get points by inviting their friends (and even more points if those friends add the application). But users can also get points by performing everyday actions. These earn fewer points, but they add up – if you were to add two friends, five photos, and two status messages on Facebook every day for a year, you’d have enough points for an iPod Touch. Users spend their points at UrTurn’s virtual store, where they they can buy gift cards or digital gadgets (we can expect the store to grow as the site expands). Alternatively, users can put their points up in a marketplace and sell them for cash. You’re not going to get rich this way, but getting paid to surf Facebook is certainly an appealing prospect. In an effort to reduce gaming of the system, the site requires users to tie their accounts to an active PayPal account At this point UrTurn is exploring a number of ways to monetize their application. Besides standard advertising, UrTurn is considering placing a tax on every marketplace transaction. The site is also planning to release an API that will let them integrate and have a rev-share with other applications, allowing them to distribute points based on usage of third party apps (the site will launch a pilot program with five appssavvy apps next month). Virtual currencies have had a long history of failure – in the late 90′s Beenz.com unsuccessfully tried to establish a worldwide currency that could rival the dollar and the pound (that company closed its doors in 2001). UrTurn is going to have to fend off countless users trying to abuse the system, and they may have a tough time monetizing their app when so little effort is required on the user’s part. That said, social → Read More
You know what? If I were to buy a television for the sole purpose of playing video games and I didn’t expect any friends to ever drop by (no two-player action), I might just consider picking up a pair of video glasses like these instead. → Read More
So let’s say your country has a huge natural disaster, like an earthquake, that kills thousands and thousands of your citizens. Your fairly repressive government mandates a three-day mourning period, which includes a few hours of your favorite games being offline. Do you: A) Contemplate life and realize you’re lucky to be alive? B) Quietly find something else to do during the brief time you’re away from your MMORPG? C) Make a video on YouTube mocking the dead, including phrases like, “How many of you died? It was just a few. China has so many people, anyway.” If you answered “C”, then the Chinese police might arrest you, because they can. Just a note. → Read More
No more 3G iPhone rumors for The Wall Street Journal, please. The Murdoch-owned Big Paper is already looking beyond the phone’s suspected June 9 launch to what Apple may release in the next five years, as predicted by Forrester Research (and everyone on the Internet). They include: • Digital photo frames, possibly with a touchscreen and built-in speakers • A networkable “clock radio” (?) that could hook up to your iTunes library • A universal remote control, possibly carrying the name “AppleSound” The trend is clear enough: Apple wants to expand beyond its current iPod/iPhone/Mac focus, and move into a more general lifestyle space. (Jobs more or less said as much last year when the iPhone launched with that chair analogy.) Also, don’t expect an Apple-branded TV anytime soon. Doesn’t seem to be Apple’s “bag,” so to speak. → Read More
So there’s a movie coming up in the next few years based on the video games of Castlevania, one of the most successful lines of games ever. And we don’t mean the awesome-sounding one by my friend Warren Ellis, this is a live-action Simon Belmont pic by the guys who did Resident Evil and Stomp the Yard. Wait, what? Yes. Who knows, maybe it won’t 100% suck as bad as it sounds like it will. → Read More
Activity stream aggregator FriendFeed launched a new feature called FriendFeed Rooms this afternoon, which are effectively topic-based accounts that anyone can create or join (depending on privacy settings). Users can then add links and messages to relevant content. The main difference between Rooms and a normal FriendFeed account is the fact that multiple users can author it, and that you can’t pull third party feeds into the service. FriendFeed usage continues to grow steadily, and has clearly gained from Twitter’s (a competitor of sorts) constant downtime. I still haven’t gone religious on it, though, as some have. That’s mostly because i don’t like having a third party service centralize all this data about me and then not let that data back out again. See my rant on the Centralized Me for more on that. CrunchBase Information FriendFeed Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Dancing, shall we say, isn’t something I do. Oh sure, after a tremendous amount of booze, I may rock the generic Ibiza one-two step while at one of New York’s “clubs” (such as Mansion, where I’ll be this Saturday supporting up-and-coming DJ and producer Vincent Voltaire), but generally, no bailo. So imagine my trepidation upon being invited to an event, DNCHRD IV, unofficially billed as some sort of “technology-dance fusion” deal. Sounds like oil and water, right? Wouldn’t you know it, I enjoyed myself. That so rarely happens anymore. → Read More
So you want an iPhone. Or you just hate your carrier and want to switch to someone else. You should be able to just do that, right? But you cannot, as there are all kinds of fees and penalties that they hit you with, it’s horrible. Luckily for you the FCC has your back, as word is it’s been quietly been working with carriers to put together a standard plan on how to handle those who want to switch but are still under contract, including pro-rated penalties, certain “no penalty” periods, and other consumer-friendly measures. They won’t end the penalties altogether, not any time soon, but it’s a step in the right direction. Some day you’ll have full-featured phone service with no contracts, but until then this is great news, if it’s true. → Read More
They were still taking bets when I heard about this about a week ago, but now the challenge has begun. For those of you not in the know, Technovoyance and VIA doing a stunt right now where they’re running this super-efficient little Pico-ITX chipset with no fans, no heatsink or anything until it croaks. They took bets from people on how long it would go with the prize being a build kit of said chipset. They’ve got Ubuntu 8.04 on there and they’re looping an mp4 video to tax the processor and video card. Unfortunately it’s a VIA demo of the chipset, and not something interesting like, say, “Never gonna give you up.” In any case, the live stream is here so you can keep an eye on it. I’m guessing it’s going to go a good long time before crapping out.; we’ll keep you posted. → Read More
We just got official word that Samsung’s Instinct will hit the shelves at Sprint’s retail stores on June 20th. Itching for more about the device Samsungs pitching as a deadly iPhone competitor? Be sure to check all of our Instinct coverage.. → Read More
Look, I’m as excited to see the new Indiana Jones film as you are, maybe more so, as it’s my favorite series after the original Star Wars trilogy. And while it’s cool to have a hobby, sometimes you just take things too far. This local man, who works on Pokemon for a living, might have done just that with his Indiana Jones obsession. His wife wouldn’t let him name their kid Indiana, so that name went to the cat. The kid’s name is Harrison. And he has his own whip and hat. There are worse out there, sure, and he does actually look convincing in his outfit, pictured above. That being said, someone should tell him Blade Runner was a better movie. Just kidding, this guy’s our kind of nerd. → Read More
Heh. Not really. But I am bummed out because I missed Virgin America’s first “Superfly Wednesdays” from NYC to LA because I’m sick. As most of you know already, VA’s in-flight entertainment system, RED, allows seat-to-seat messaging and this would have been the perfect opportunity for me to send a little message to Jaslene Gonzalez, a previous winner of America’s Next Top Model, and tell her how much I think she’s a biotch (she’s in the middle). But I’d tell Caridee English, also a previous winner of ANTM, how hot she is (the one on the left). I have no idea who Whitney Cunningham (on the right) is, but she was, apparently, a contestant. There are four more SW’s scheduled so I suggest you jump on a flight and check it out. Mix, mingle and network your little heart out in LA, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. → Read More
Now there are a few words you probably weren’t expecting to read today. I have to say I’m a little skeptical of this system; after all, sharks’ tails are part of a supremely aquadynamic design and are powered by enormous muscles, not the waves, though I’m sure the researchers are aware of that. The system is designed to oscillate in the current, driving against a generator’s resistance to create electricity. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
