Apple's All-Seeing Screen

Based on a recent patent we may be seeing a new kind of display coming from the Apple store in the near future, one that can capture images as well as display them. From the article: "The clever idea is to insert thousands of microscopic image sensors in-between the liquid crystal display cells in the screen. Each sensor captures its own small image, but software stitches these together to create a single, larger picture."

Comments

Re:details?

[TheRaven64]

an image "stitched together" from thousands of tiny (but physically spread out) sensors, has got to look like it is on drugs.

The highest resolution radio telescopes work by reconstructing an image from multiple spread-out receivers. I saw a demo at Cambridge about a decade ago where they used the same concept on optical wavelengths to produce a clearer image than Hubble was capable of from a small set of ground-based telescopes.

No. Autofocus, decent appearance, large CCD.

[SuperBanana]

The iSight video camera was distinctive back when it was introduced for two reasons (versus most other web cams commonly used at that time). First, it connected via FireWire. Second, it came with mounting brackets (included, for free in the iSight box) to attach the camera securely to the top center of Apple's LCD monitors and laptop screens. The result of this second "innovation"? iSight video confernces looked significantly more natural and more natural than web conferences hosted using Logitech and other web cams that (typically) sat to the bottom right or left of the computer monitor (or awkwardly on top) and, hence, gave participants really skewed views of each others' faces.

Number one, iSight cameras aren't even remotely as popular as all the PC USB-based webcams; they're EVERYWHERE, and ISPs for years have been giving them away as freebies. Number two, the iSight wasn't distinctive because of its interface; webcams have been available for years with USB2. I strongly suspect it was firewire because most people NEED their USB ports for keyboards and mice, but don't really use their firewire port except for occasional camcorder use, if at all.

The iSight was distinctive because:

• Physical appearance A bit of cheap cast aluminum looked a hell of a lot better than a few cents of plastic.
• Autofocus
• A relatively large CCD size for lower noise (a larger CCD also makes optics easier/less critical)
• built-in microphone specifically designed for the purpose
• A somewhat decent lens
• Privacy shutter

The mounting devices just make it slightly more convenient to attach the camera, particularly if you had an Apple LCD. It's a problem solved with a little bit of tape, by the way.

Another "by the way"- the iSight cameras in the Macbook and iMac absolutely SUCK. They're basically cellphone cameras; microscopic lens and CCD, no autofocus. No privacy shutter. The picture is very noisy and low resolution, the colors are funky...

Re:Ministry of Truth

[prichardson]

Because sex outdoors is more uncomfortable than sexy.