National Geographic has a nifty new flash application out called “Infinite Photograph.” It’s best described as a collage of images that together make up a new still image. Simply move the square box around the image and click into it to see the collage of images that supposedly make up that area of the picture. Continue clicking until you get yet a new image you can further click into and reduce to its constituents. It takes a bit to load but it’s a pretty fun application to play with nevertheless.

[Check it out via News.com]

Read this in Chinese Simplified and in French

Technorati Tags: National Geographic, Infinite Photograph

Remember the days of passing around a photo album? Come on.. you remember what that was like right? Flip through a small album while your friend next to you waits for you to finish up. Pass it on when you’re done and work on the next album.  Seems like a long time ago doesn’t it?

Well, the folks at Digital Foci are trying to revive the photo album by bringing it to the world of digital images with the announcement of the “Photo Book”. Think of it as a slim portable digital picture frame encased in a soft leather-like (a.k.a. it’s not leather) case. Powered by a rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery, the Photo Book operates up to 2.5 hours, comes with an 8 inch 800 x 600 LCD color display, and a whopping 4 GB of internal memory.

Photo Book supports a number of picture transfer methods. You can transfer photos using a memory card or a USB flash drive OR you can connect the album directly to a computer via a USB cable and then transfer content that way. Memory card support includes CF, SD, SDHC, MMC, xD-Picture Card, Memory Stick, and MSPRO.

You can organize your picture content by albums and choose a specific album to view on the Photo Book. Yes, it even supports slideshow views with a supposed “elegant page-turning effect” (we’ll reserve final judgment until we actually see that effect).

More importantly, the Photo Book supports RAW images from high-end digital SLR cameras (though remember – you’re dealing with a display that has a resolution of 800 x 600). Other notable features for the Photo Book include:

• Copy albums directly from memory cards for USB flash drives to internal memory without needing a computer.
• Displays each photo album with folder name and photo preview.
• Optional displays show photo file name and slideshow counter.
• Run automatic Full-Screen or Photo Book photo Slideshows with adjustable time intervals.
• Scroll photos manually with zoom and rotate functions.
• Supported image formats – JPEG, BMP, TIFF, GIF, RAW image files from a wide selection of DSLR cameras.
• Automatic photo orientation based on EXIF data.
• Supported audio formats – MP3, AAC, WMA – music will play in the background during photo slideshow .
• Supported video formats – MJPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-4 SP.
• Built-in 1 channel, 1.4W speaker.
• Runs on rechargeable Lithium polymer battery with 2.5 hours of battery life.

The Digital Foci Photo Book will be coming out in May at a price of $189. Expect to find the Photo Book at places like Amazon.com and Adorama.com.

Technorati Tags: Digital Foci, Photo Book, Digital Pictures

Digital Foci announces their latest Picture Porter device – the Picture Porter 35. Featuring a 3.5 inch color screen, a multi-format memory card reader, and hard drive capacities starting at 160GB, the Picture Porter 35 is designed to be your “portable photo manager”. Take this device with you while you’re on the road and you won’t need a notebook anymore to offload your digital pictures. Simply snap your pictures and then transfer them to the Picture Porter 35. The device also supports RAW images with zoom, EXIF, and histogram data which allows you to examine your pictures in greater detail.

The Picture Porter 35 also comes with USB host functionality which allows you to attach external hard drives for secondary backups (great for those of you paranoid about losing your content). You can also perform functions such as slideshows, audio and video playback, record audio, and output audio and video.

Specs include:

• Supports CF, MMC, RS-MMC, SD, SDHC, miniSD, Memory Stick, MS PRO, MS Duo, MS PRO Duo, xD
• 3.5 inch color TFT LCD display with backlight and 320 x 240 resolution
• 2.5 inch SATA HDD
• USB 2.0
• USB Host capable
• Supports JPEG, GIF, TIFF, RAW
• Supports MPEG1, MPEG4, MJPEG
• Supports MP3, WMA 7-9, AAC
• Records in AAC
• TV Out in NTSC or PAL
• Mono microphone
• Built-in speaker
• 3.7V 2100mAh replaceable rechargeable Lithium Ion battery
• Measures 5.4 x 3.8 x 1.2 inches and weighs 14 oz with hard drive and battery

The Picture Porter 35 will be available this summer – MSRP has yet to be determined.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Digital Foci, Picture Porter 35, Portable Photo Manager

If you’re looking for a convenient way to store and display all of your digital photos, then you might be interested in the Sony HDMS-S1D Digital Photo Album. The enclosure comes with a built-in CD/DVD burner and a 80GB hard drive capable of storing up to 50,000 high resolution images. Features of the HDMS-S1D include:

• Easy to operate and use with included remote control
• Variety of output connectors including HDMI, Composite, and Component Video
• Organize event photos automatically by date or icon or custom tag
• Intuitive browser interface
• Automatically sort photos by date, or create up to 3,000 albums by event name, icon, or tag
• Create pro-quality slideshows with transitions and music
• Add themes and visual effects

The HDMS-S1D features media slots capable of reading cards such as MemoryStick PRO Duo, SD-Card, MMC, xD-Picture Card, CompactFlash, and MicroMedia. There are also two USB ports which you can use to connect a PictBridge compatible printer and a PC for file transfer. Finally back up your digital photos via the built-in CD/DVD burner.

On the downside, the unit costs $399.99 – which is pretty hefty when you consider it only has an 80GB hard drive.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Sony, HDMS-S1D, Digital Photo Album