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Stanford Team Developing Super 3D Camera

Tookis writes "Most of us are happy to take 2D happy snaps with single lens digital cameras. Imagine if you had a digital camera that could more accurately perceive the distance of all objects in its field of vision than your own eyes and brain. That's exactly what a team of researchers from Stanford University are working on — and it could even be affordable for ordinary consumers."

3 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wait. by edwardpickman · · Score: 5, Funny
    This story has been up for over four minutes and no comments about revolutionizing the pr0n industry?

    We've already got 3D pr0n, they're called girls.

  2. Re:Wait. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I tried one of those "girls" once. I don't know. I suppose they're OK, but there are some issues that you have to take into consideration.

    First of all they are ladened with pretty nasty Digital Rights Management. If you try to access one with your digits and you don't have the proper authorization, you're going to get whacked. And it's harder than you'd think to get authorization. The one I tried seemed to have been encumbered with the ForePlay(tm) DRM system. Man, you practically have to jump through hoops to get any access at all.

    Also, you'd think that you pay once and it's yours forever, right? That's not how it works. It's kind of a pay-per-use situation. You've got to buy dinner, movie, etc. Then once you've spent all the cash, you have to negotiate the whole ForePlay system and then finally you get access -- maybe. These things seem to be pretty flakey, because most of the time I just got the "headache" response. What's worse is that the more time that goes by, you have to spend progressively more money. And even with that expenditure, somehow you end up will less and less access.

    Oh and did I mention that you're only supposed to have one at a time? That's right. Let's say your primary girl is in headache mode, you aren't supposed to be able to get access to another girl. You just have to wait until the first one comes back on line. *And* most of them are equipped with spyware that calls you up every couple of hours and says inane things like, "Whatcha doin'?"

    So, like I said, they're OK I guess. But probably they won't be that popular with most /.ers. I've heard you can rent them, but that it's also pretty expensive and you run the risk of getting viruses. Probably not worth the hassle, IMHO.

  3. Re:Wait. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    But you can protect yourself from the viruses, with something called -- oddly enough -- a "Trojan."