Author: Serkadis

The International Imaging Industry Association (I3A) has announced that Google and Microsoft Corporation will take part in its groundbreaking Camera Phone Image Quality Initiative.

“I am also particularly pleased that Google and Microsoft are joining the other CPIQ members to help accomplish the important goals of the Initiative’s final critical phase, which will develop and deliver a much-needed consumer-facing system for evaluating the image quality delivered by mobile devices.”said I3A President Lisa Walker.

Building on the accomplishments of CPIQ Phases 1 and 2, I3A members participating in CPIQ Phase 3 include Aptina Imaging, CDM Optics, Inc., DxO Labs, Eastman Kodak Company, FUJIFILM Corporation, Motorola, Inc, Nokia Corporation, OmniVision Technologies, Inc., Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, STMicroelectronics, ST Ericsson and VistaPoint Technologies. Together, these industry leaders will create the remaining essential metrics needed to produce an accurate and repeatable testing program for camera phone image quality.

The CPIQ group’s ultimate goal is to deliver a consumer-oriented rating system for camera phone images. The rating system will provide a tool for translating and distilling the complex set of measurements and tests into a rating that consumers can quickly and easily understand. In addition to the technical work, the initiative group will work to build awareness and encourage industry-wide adoption of the CPIQ deliverables by the mobile imaging industry.

I3A members are drawn from all sectors of the imaging industry, and they include many household-name multi-nationals as well as small innovative technology companies.

I3A is an accredited Standards Developing Organization, serving as Secretariat for the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 42 (ISO/TC42) on Photography, and as administrator for the USA Technical Advisory Group for this committee.

Read more at I3A here.

Via MSMobiles.com

Published Dec. 8, 2009
By Sara Schilling, Tri-City Herald staff writer

Rehabilitation patient Cusie Bumpous is helped by physical therapy assistant Heather Bethards as she gets into a car on Monday at Kadlec Regional Medical Center. Columbia Basin College’s autobody program donated the refurbished truck to help patients who are recovering from strokes and other disabilities practice getting getting in and out of vehicles. CBC students modified the vehicle, which included removing the engine and wiring and cutting off the rear end. Photo by Richard Dickin of the Tri-City Herald

Kadlec Regional Medical Center’s rehabilitation clinic has several stationary bicycles, a set of parallel bars used to help people relearn to walk and some large fitness balls.

Now add an SUV to the list.

Students in Columbia Basin College’s autobody program modified a 1991 Isuzu Rodeo so patients who have had strokes or other illnesses or traumas that affect their mobility can practice getting in and out of cars.

The vehicle “will make a (big) difference to people in the community,” said Angela Mohondro, director of rehabilitation at the Richland hospital.

More than 300 patients come through the clinic each year. For many of them, it’s stressful relearning to get in and out a car and to adjust the seats, Mohondro said.

As Columbia Basin College student Gary Amidan holds the windshield, fellow student Nestor Silva, left, applies epoxy to the frame of a 1991 Isuzu Rodeo they and some other students in the autobody program donated to Kadlec Regional Medical Center Monday. Photo by Richard Dickin of the Tri-City Herald

Patients also have to figure out how and where to store equipment like wheelchairs and walkers in their vehicle, she said.

Patients used to have to practice on their own cars in the parking lot, Mohondro said. That was less than optimal, particularly in bad weather.

But that changed Monday, when several second-year autobody students from CBC in Pasco brought the Rodeo to the clinic. They spent about 1 1/2 months modifying the vehicle, including taking out the engine and wiring and cutting off the rear end.

They used bungee cords and even a foam football to create resistance so the steering wheel and pedals would feel like a working car as patients use them.

Students also painted the Rodeo deep red and created decals for the door and hood. They also put a CBC sticker at the top of the windshield.

The students said they’re proud of their work. The hardest part of the project, they joked, was getting the Rodeo through the door of the clinic. To do that, they had to remove the top and reassemble it inside the clinic.

The vehicle was donated by Pasco Auto Wrecking. It was turned in under the “Cash for Clunkers” program.

Assistant Professor Rhody Hayes said there are 17 second-year students in the autobody program, which is one of a few at the college that’s being phased out because of sweeping state budget cuts.

CBC and Kadlec officials said the vehicle is a great addition to rehabilitation services at the hospital. Only one other hospital in the state has a similar vehicle, Mohondro said.

“We had a lot of fun,” said student Francisco Figueroa about the project. “It feels great to help out people, to know something you worked on is going to help a lot of people in the future.”

Additional news stories can be accessed online at the Tri-City Herald.

Hot on the heels of our Barnes & Noble nook unboxing gallery, we got a ton of requests from you guys asking us to compare the nook directly against the Kindle 2. So we put the nook right up against Amazon’s Kindle 2, and shot some photos. In a nutshell, the nook is smaller in length and width, but is a little but thicker than the Kindle 2. I personally don’t think one has an advantage over the other in terms of size, but hey, check out the nook vs Kindle size comparison gallery, and judge for yourself, mmkay?

Gallery: Barnes and Noble nook vs. Amazon Kindle: Size comparison shots

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Dear Joel Tenenbaum: please find new legal representation. And do so quickly. Following Judge Gertner’s trashing of Nesson, the Harvard law professor still doesn’t seem to think he did anything wrong. Instead, he’s blaming Judge Gertner. Seriously. In an interview with Computerworld, he said he’s planning to ask for a retrial due to Gertner’s errors in the case:

Nesson, however, brushed aside the judge’s criticism and maintained that it was she who had gotten it wrong. “I was sorry she did not respond to our fair use defense. She had a considerable amount of trouble rejecting it,” he said.

From the rest of the article, it sounds like he wants a do over. He says that he wants to have a new trial where he’ll make a brand new argument: that Tenenbaum’s use was fair use because when he did the file sharing, there was no legal way to purchase that music digitally. As far as I can tell, that’s a misreading of what Gertner said might possibly work as a limited fair use claim, but there’s no indication that this is actually true in Tenenbaum’s case, and none of that addresses the basic procedural mistakes that Nesson made. It’s a shame that Nesson still can’t admit that he screwed this up entirely — despite being told that by plenty of folks who are very sympathetic to his position. At some point, one hopes that Tenenbaum himself will realize this and drop Nesson and find someone who can actually represent his interests.

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Filed under: Concept Cars, Coupe, Performance, Misc. Auto Shows, Specialty

Love it or loathe it, the Bertone Mantide is one of the most striking automotive designs of the decade, and coupled with the Corvette ZR1‘s performance, Jason Castriota has created one of the most exclusive supercars in recent memory.

The second of ten Mantides has been delivered to its new owner before its official unveiling at the Dubai Auto Show next month, and — to our eyes — its all-white paint scheme looks even better than the original red example that debuted earlier this year.

Castriota has since left StileBertone and moved back to New York to pursue other endeavors. In addition to tackling the fashion and industrial design world, he’s working on a new line of footwear that’s expected to be revealed sometime in 2010. While a new set of kicks would be the perfect compliment to the machined aluminum throttle on the angular, LS9-powered coupe, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Castriota tackling another automotive project in the future given his penchant for both style and speed.

Bertone Mantide goes from blush to pale, looks better for it originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to research firm Clear Capital (via HousingWire), the Midwest is seeing a home price surge, with Detroit (of all cities) leading the way.

We’ll add the caveat that there are a lot of small firms out there trying to tackle this question — and they all tend to come up with different answers — to be careful.

—–

TRUCKEE, Calif. – Dec. 9, 2009 – Clear Capital (www.clearcapital.com), a premium provider of data and solu-tions for real estate asset valuation, investment and risk assessment, today released its Home Data Index™ (HDI) Market Report. Patent pending rolling quarter technology significantly reduces the multi-month lag time associated with other indices to help investors, loan servicers and individual buyers and sellers make more informed, timely and profitable decisions. This month’s report features data compiled through Nov. 27, 2009.

Report highlights include:

• National / Four Region Overview: National quarterly price gains are narrowed to a modest 1.4 percent; with the Midwest (2.3%), West (1.5%), South (1.0%) and Northeast (0.9%) all posting modest gains.
• Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) drilldown: The highest performing major markets continued to experience quarterly home price gains, further minimizing yearly losses. Lake Erie cities of Detroit, Mich. (14.1%), and Cleveland, Ohio (12.8%), top this month’s highest performing major markets. Softening seasonal home prices have returned most of the lowest performing major markets to negative quarterly results.
• Micro Market Analysis: Home price gains of 13.4 percent over the last two rolling quarters indicate prices in the Atlanta, Ga. MSA may have bottomed out and are beginning to recover.

The Clear Capital HDI Market Report offers the industry, investors and lenders a near real-time look at pricing conditions not only at the national and metropolitan level, but within local markets. Clear Capital data is built on the most recent data available from recorder/assessor offices, and then further enhanced by adding the Company’s proprietary market data for the most comprehensive geographic coverage available.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Detroit’s Raccoon Hunter Taking Holiday Orders
• Detroit’s Famous Pontiac Silverdome Sells For Just $583,000
• Unemployment In Detroit Is The Nation’s Worst By A Mile

I was first given a preview of Open Text’s new Flash-based DAM user interface over a year ago, in the fall of 2008. The release, at the time, was "imminent"; I even put a preview screen shot of the new version in the 2009 edition of our Digital & Media Asset Management research. Fourteen months later, customers of the product formerly known as Artesia are still waiting for v7.0.

It’s been a rather long and intense tease, with the interface showcased at conferences and sales pitches throughout 2009, yet Open Text remains indecisive as to when they’ll roll out the goods. Earlier this autumn, sitting with one of my consulting clients who’s in the process of selecting a DAM, I watched an Open Text sales pitch showcasing all the slick features of 7.0. But when it came to the down-and-dirty demo of full features, the sales people retreated back to version 6.8. "7.0 will roll out before the end of this year," they promised. Just a few weeks later, Open Text announced the release will be delayed until Q1 of 2010.

Much of the growth of Artesia (which will be called Open Text Media Management in its next life) has been spurred by the intense audio and video management demands of the BBC, a banner client, and it’s in the media giant’s London offices that a beta version of 7.0 is currently being tested. But really: what’s taking so long?

As we mentioned earlier this year, many DAM vendors have completely overhauled their interfaces to be Flash or Flex-based during 2009; Artesia is moving from a rather staid but utilitarian HTML UI to a slick Flash-based one. They’re adding support of more file formats, debuting a SharePoint connector, and piling on enhanced workflow and bulk-processing features. It’s more than a new interface, and clearly it’s taking longer to pull the pieces together than they would have liked.

Be cautious if you’re shown a preview of any version that’s up-and-coming. The reality is, you’re likely seeing a smoke-and-mirrors demo, and the real shipping software may not see the light of day for months, or even years. I’ve even seen vendors respond to requirements in an RFP based on a product roadmap or a planned feature, rather than what’s actually part of the current version. Unfortunately, buyers often don’t always have the detailed knowledge necessary to see when that’s the case.

I’ve often told my female friends you should never marry a guy thinking you’ll be able to change him; the same is true of your vendor. Never buy based on what a vendor promises will be "better" or "fixed" in the next version. Always select tools based on the current release, and be sure to specify to vendors in your RFP that they can’t say they meet a requirement based on future plans. Artesia customers will be the first to tell you, you may be working with the current release a lot longer than you think. 

Peter Thiel commented on Paulson’s obsession with gold today in an interview with Big Think.

Thiel says, “think of gold as not a protection against inflation, but as an anti-investment. You invest in gold when there’s nothing good to invest in.”

The Pay-Pal co-founder is now manager of the Clarium Capital Management hedge fund, which is is down 16.4% so far this year.

His November 13-F filing shows that he has a small stake in SPDR gold trust. He is more heavily invested in Nike, Toyota, and other commodities.

“If you believe in inflation,” he says, “you should probably be investing in land in India, or some sort of inflationary asset that does really well if you have crazy runaway inflation.

“But if you believe that it’s going to be very hard to make good returns on investments, and that could [either] be an inflationary environment or it can be a deflationary environment, then gold becomes relatively attractive.”

See the full What Went Wrong series on Big Think.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Peter Thiel’s Hedge Fund Smashed, May Be Headed For Deadpool
• Peter Thiel Says Don’t Piss Off The Robots (Or Bet On A Recovery)
• Amazing: John Paulson Makes $50 Million In Five Weeks On A Gold Trade (DGC)

Filed under: Aftermarket, Convertible, Performance, Ferrari

It’s been a little over a year since Ferrari released the California. It was Maranello’s first front-engined V8, bearing its first dual-clutch transmission, its first folding hard-top, and its first standard fitment of carbon-ceramic brakes. Unfortunately Ferrari found public reception to the convertible’s styling rather cold, and although we found it looked much better drenched in soft Sicilian sunlight than it does it photos, not everyone’s a fan.

Fortunately there’s an elite cadre of Ferrari tuners eager to spruce up Maranello’s finest – as well as their more controversial designs. Hamann‘s one, and they’ve taken their shot at the California already. So has Edo Competition. Now it’s Novitec Rosso’s turn.

The Dutch tuning garage has just released a full array of modifications for the 2+ cabrio, starting with a revised ECU for a modest 40 horsepower bump to 500 even. A sport suspension drops the ride height by 35 millimeters, but it can be raised up front by as much as 40 mm to clear curbs and speed bumps. Outside, Novitec’s fitted a carbon fiber aero kit with front lip spoiler, side skirts, revised diffuser and a little rear wing, along with modular rims measuring 21 inches up front and 22 in the rear, shod with Pirelli rubber.

While opinions remain divided as to the sacriligiosity of tuning a Ferrari, in the California’s case it could be – to some eyes anyway – just what the doctor ordered. Details in the press release after the jump and photos in the high-res gallery below.

[Source: Novitec Rosso]

Continue reading Novitec Rosso offers up tuning package for Ferrari California

Novitec Rosso offers up tuning package for Ferrari California originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So peep this – the iMM153 alarm clock from iLuv features a bed shaker alarm that works in conjunction with an iPod, FM radio, or generic buzzer. It pretty much guarantees that the owner, no matter how deep they are into their slumber, will be woken up by the noise and vibration combo. The iLuv iMM153 is available in black, white, pink, and blue, and is compatible with iPod classic, mini, nano, and touch. The things retail for $59, but Amazon has them for $46.

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Hey, Rival Schools fans. If you still have your old Rival Schools PSone disc, hang on to it. Love it. Treasure it. According to Capcom’s Chris Svensson, we won’t be seeing that game as a PSOne Classic

Filed under: Aftermarket, Hybrid, Japan, Hatchback, Honda

With yesterday’s leaked brochure of the production version of the 2011 Honda CR-Z, a Temple of VTEC member wasted no time uploading what could be the first Mugen variant of Honda’s new hybrid hatch.

Details on the mods are minimal, but the tuner appears to be working on a dress-up package that includes a new front bumper/splitter, side skirts, rear bumper and wing. Naturally, a new set of wheels are part of the package — what appears to be a set of 17-inch, seven spoke hoops, likely shod in stickier rubber.

Given Mugen’s strong ties to Honda, expect the full kit to be available through dealers in Japan when the CR-Z goes on sale early next year.

[Source: TOV]

Another leaked brochure shows Honda CR-Z by Mugen originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Press Release
03/11/2009

Jacobsen Real-Time X-Ray Machinery, Ontario Canada, a manufacturer of custom x-ray inspection equipment, designed and built a new x-ray machine for large alloy castings for a German customer. The flexibility of the MAXIpart™ system in ccommodating small alloy castings (30mm (d) x 100 mm (h)) to very large alloy castings (1000mm (d) x 2300mm (h)) makes it a one of a kind on the market today. With Jacobsen’s x-ray machines, customers get
the competitive edge and state of the art x-ray machine that can cut 30% off of their inspection time.

A global provider of custom x-ray inspection equipment, Jacobsen builds each machine for a specific application. Jacobsen manufactures manual, semi and fully automatic x-ray inspection systems. Jacobsen believes that the intelligent use of x-ray inspection technology improves the quality of castings and decreases the amount of rework and production delays.

The customer’s cost in terms of time and material is dramatically reduced when x-ray inspection equipment is part of the production line. The designed-to-order systems are built for heavy duty 24/7 x-ray applications with a 99% uptime and provide years of trouble-free
operation. The MAXIpart™ machine is comprised of a C-arm equipped with four axes servo, a partrotating table with three or four axes servo and a servo-driven sliding door. Accurate servo
positioning with high resolution Lenze drives facilitates detailed inspection of complex part geometries.

The semi-automatic MAXIpart™ machine allows the operator to place an inspection sample, i.e. aluminum-alloy high-speed train gearbox housing, manually by crane onto the partrotating
table which moves outside of the x-ray enclosure into part loading position. The partrotating table is belt driven to overcome large inertial forces and is equipped with interchangeable x-ray transparent plates that hold the part in position from the top and/or from the bottom. Available table and fixture kits allow x-rays to pass through the testing sample without creating shadows that disturb the inspection. When part loading is complete, the operator uses a touch-screen interface to initiate the preprogrammed part inspection cycle. The rotating table with the part on it tilts into the x-ray
enclosure and the servo-driven sliding door closes. The machine’s PC-based controls assign the actual part to a pre-programmed type and downloads all part data. The table with the part moves into its inspection position. The C-arm manipulator with image intensifier or flat panel detector and the x-ray tube with shutter, diaphragm and filter move into inspection position…

KINTO is one of the leading suppliers in China specialized in manufacture of copper parts for electrical applications.

Product range:
– copper flexible connectors made out of copper strips
– copper flexible connectors made out of baided tapes or stranded ropes
– flexible insulated busbars
– primary copper contacts
– primary copper connectors
– copper clamps and other customer copper parts

We use technologies such as press-/diffusion welding, braze welding, cold-pressing, stamping, deep-drawing and high precision machining.
The contact areas can be tinned or silver-coated according to customers’ requirements.

We are a ISO9001 certificated company with strict quality assurance system, and we have advanced production and testing equipments to assure the quality of each product.

It’s time for our third UPS-sponsored whiteboard video, explaining some of the topics we discuss around here in two minutes or less. As you might remember, the first explained the economics of abundance and the second discussed the innovator’s dilemma. This third one is about the difference between invention and innovation, and the process of getting from the first to the second, using one particular product as an example:

Once again, these videos were sponsored by UPS, though we had free rein in creating the actual presentation, and it’s quite obviously based on topics that we discuss here on a regular basis.

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SocGen’s uber-bear Albert Edwards has new, fascinating report on about the next leg down in stocks. What makes it particularly interesting is his allusion to trading patterns in Japan.

ZeroHedge has the report:

The secret to making money in Japan was to remember to exit just as most investors had become convinced of a self-sustaining recovery. Investors should have sold as the leading indicators began to turn down (see chart below). They needed to sell despite protestations from economists that we were set for a mid-cycle pause and strategists telling us that the market was much cheaper than had been seen in recent years. In each case the sanguine voices were proved appallingly wrong. Even moderate fiscal tightening would pitch Japan’s economy back into recession and the Nikkei made new lows. At the stock level, my Quant colleague, Andrew Lapthorne, has demonstrated that in Japan value/momentum strategies needed to be replaced by reversal strategies (buying the losers/selling the winners) ? link. The buy and hold era was crushed by the reality of economic and market volatility.

For Japanese investors, it took some time to learn the new metrics of investing. Today, investors have no such excuse. After all, Ben Bernanke tells us we should learn the lessons of Japan and so we must. Though many commentators want to complicate the investment business, we try and keep our advice as simple as possible. The leading indicators have begun to turn down in the US (see charts below) and so risk assets are therefore dangerous. Almost no-one will be willing to predict renewed global recession and no-one will predict new lows in equities. And with the market so bullish (cover chart) a cyclical failure will come as a crushing blow to sentiment. It is time for caution. It is time to sell.

Read more at Zero Hedge >>

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Japan Unveils New $80 Billion Stimulus
• SocGen’s Albert Edwards: Even The Bulls Should Know They’re Screwed
• SocGen Analyst Warns Investors To Beware Misstated Earnings