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Two years after the first technology preview, Microsoft officially launched Photosynth, an interesting way to combine overlapping photos from a place and explore the place in detail from different angles. “Using techniques from the field of computer vision, Photosynth examines images for similarities to each other and uses that information to estimate the shape of the subject and the vantage point the photos were taken from. With this information, we recreate the space and use it as a canvas to display and navigate through the photos.”

PhotoSynth requires a Windows-only plug-in that also lets you create synths, but the results depend on the number and quality of your photos. Microsoft suggests to “start by taking a panorama of your scene, then move around and take more photos from different angles and positions. When moving around objects, try to get one photo every 25 degrees or so. That will make the synth work better.”

There are some interesting places that can be explored, but this technology will become really useful in conjunction with geocoded photos from sites like Flickr or Panoramio. Google Maps already overlays photos from Panoramio, so the next step could be to combine these photos using “Panoramio Look Around“, but the results won’t be anywhere close to Photosynth.

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We’ve shown you how you can turn your (non-DRM-protected) music collection into custom iPhone ringtones using GarageBand and iTunes on a Mac, or software like ToneShop for Windows, but the CyberNet…
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Weather reports signal dark ominous clouds forming over Okinawa Golf Resort. Other strangeness reported: disemboweled elephants in the Great Safari, pillaged villages around the Euro Classics course and loitering Spartans around the great Oceania lobster.

Judgment day has come, all bow before the one known as Kratos!

Yes, all the rumors are true: Kratos, the one and only, has made his way to Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds… and he’s looking to claim his rightful seat as the God of Golf!

In all honesty, integrating Kratos into Hot Shots Golf was by far one of the best experiences, as we got to work closely with the God of War team and the casts of characters (voice over, animators, etc) that created Kratos in his original form.

If I had to pick one of the most fun parts, it would have to be our VO sessions and watching (listening?) T.C. Carson jump into the Kratos role in a completely new environment… trust me, there were plenty of eye-watering-side-splitting laughs that day…

But aside from VO, the Clap Hanz team paid a great deal of attention to all of Kratos’ characteristics when animating him and hi chain-drivers.

So starting this Thursday, Kratos will make his way down to your local PS3 via download. You can take him out to a nice single player round offline and once you’ve mastered his technique, give it a go online against all the puny mortals that dare defy you.

- ChrisHM

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Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Peripherals

click for extreme closeup

At its Leipzig Games Convention press conference today, Sony unveiled a wireless keypad peripheral that attaches to the top of the PlayStation 3 controller (presumably into the mini-USB port). The keypad also features a “touchpad mode” for mouse input. Pricing was not revealed, but the device will be released in 8 different languages.

It’s worth noting that MadCatz released an attachable thumbpad for PS3 in April 2007.

Update: Added official keypad images (see gallery below). Does this thing double as a codpiece?

PlayStation.Blog clarifies that the Wireless Kepad includes a mode that turns the key area into a touchpad, allowing users to control an on-screen cursor with their fingertips, tapping to activate a link. The keypad also features two short-cut buttons, enabling quick access to the XMB’s “Friends” icon and the “Message Box.” The pad also can be paired with other Bluetooth devices (e.g., a smart phone) and will be released in late November.

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Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

It appears that two of the Xbox 360 SKUs will receive a $50 price drop by the week of Sept. 7, making the 60GB model $299 and the Elite $399 — we’ve yet to hear any change on the $279 Arcade meanwhile, the Arcade will drop $80 to $199. A few of our retail contacts, some of whom have given us good intel in the past — and who all work for separate corporations — have sent us identical information regarding a price drop. Evidence of the Elite and Arcade price cut can be found in the gallery below featuring images sent us from the Sept. 7 Radio Shack flyer.

Update: Oh mercy, it’s been a long day. The Arcade is marked as $199 in the flyer as well (under the TV, to the left). Thanks, Strike Man.

[Thanks Patrick, Master X, and everyone else who helped.]

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Filed under: Gaming

Well, color us surprised! Here we have yet another “limited edition” PlayStation 3 bundle, this time with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune packed in alongside a PlayStation Network voucher for PAIN, a DualShock 3 wireless controller and… a 160GB PS3 console? Yep, Sony’s formally introducing us to the new king, which will start shipping to North America this November in the aforementioned kit for $499.99. Curiously, there’s no word as to whether it’ll be released separate from the bundle (we’re guessing yes), and there’s no mention of PS2 backwards compatibility (so don’t count on it). In related news, the “new” $399.99 80GB version is finally shipping to retailers, so you should be able to snap one up in the very, very near future.

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Filed under: Displays

We’ve seen one pico projector after another emerge, but we’re getting pretty antsy as we wait for one to ship en masse to North America. Call it a hunch, but we highly doubt Fuchitek’s PEP01 will be the first to fly stateside. The handheld beamer measures in at just 11.5- x 5- x 2.2-centimeters and features a 640 x 480 native resolution, 80:1 contrast ratio, support for NTSC / PAL, composite input and a battery life of around 40 minutes. Per usual, there’s no indication of when Fuchitek plans on releasing it (let alone a price), so we suppose we’ll spend yet another night holding the PLC-XL50 up with our hands and pretending that everything’s kosher.

[Via Pocket-lint]

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Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Mobile

While Microsoft hasn’t yet announced an Xbox Live iPhone app of its very own, it has taken a well-intentioned step towards validating the handful of apps currently available on the service: it’s required that the developers make their apps free. Now, before you go off about mean ol’ Microsoft keeping the independent developer down, consider the reasoning here: these developers are given access to the Live functionality through the Xbox Community Developer Program and, as such, are beholden to Microsoft’s rules.

In this case, Microsoft evidently has no problem with the applications themselves, just with developers charging cash money for them, so it’s really looking out for you here. If you’ve held off on trying one out, we’ve included links to the three we could find (one isn’t free yet, but we expect it will be shortly). Take ‘em for a spin around the ‘net and report your findings back here.

Source - 1337pwn XBOX Live Friends List AppStore Application is now FREE
iTunes - 1337pwn (now free)
iTunes - iLive (still $1.99)
iTunes - Xbox LIVE Friends (formerly iXboxLive; now free)

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Microsoft has all sorts of eccentric promotions and marketing tie-ins around the world. This one just happens to be a limited edition Xbox 360. We’ve seen plenty of those, but not one made in conjunction with Vita Soy, a soft drink company in Hong Kong. The design reminds me of kitchen wallpaper with the X’s made out of tea leaves and lemons motif. Since the item is a contest prize for Xboxing Day (hahaha) and only in Hong Kong it’s bound to be collectable. It probably won’t be worth as much as the Dark Knight themed Xbox 360 though.

Images courtesy of Microsoft.

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Filed under: Cellphones

It’s an interesting day for the folks at Google. Not only do we see the supposed GPhone (AKA, the HTC Dream) get trotted out to the FCC, and hear new rumors about the device’s release date, but now there’s a brand-spanking-new release of the Android SDK available. The version? 0.9 — a number which puts this dangerously close to a number that most would consider non-beta. Meanwhile, the new version of the mobile OS has been significantly changed, adding a new widgetified (big old clock: present!) and flickable homescreen, a handy (and speedy) tab to pull up your apps, plus a media player, camera, and handful of other noticeable design tweaks. Don’t believe us? Check out the video after the break showing it all in action.

Update: We’ve included a gallery of screenshots as well. Check out the sync contacts option. Sweet! Also, you may note that it asks you to “open keyboard to compose message” in the SMS screen — almost like it’s made for a device with a slide-out keyboard.

Continue reading Video: Android SDK v0.9 hits the internet looking almost ready for primetime

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