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From: Andrew Collier on 31 Jan 2010 14:02 In article <slrnhm2ocv.msd.jim(a)wotan.magrathea.local>, Jim <jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> wrote: > I was thinking about the lack of camera aspect, and I think they may be > right. Video chatting sounds good, but you'd have to hold it at a _very_ > precise angle to keep yourself in view. I reckon Apple could come up with something to work around that. For example, what if the camera had a very wide angle lens, but cropped the image and filtered it so it looked like a normal webcam. Then, as you move the pad, it uses the face recognition technology they've already got, to move the centre of the crop and keep the same view inside the frame. Andrew -- --- Andrew Collier ---- To reply by email, please use: ---- http://www.intensity.org.uk/ --- 'andrew {at} intensity.org.uk' --
From: zoara on 3 Feb 2010 11:17 Andrew Collier <spambucket(a)intensity.org.uk> wrote: > In article <slrnhm2ocv.msd.jim(a)wotan.magrathea.local>, > Jim <jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> wrote: > > > I was thinking about the lack of camera aspect, and I think they may > > be > > right. Video chatting sounds good, but you'd have to hold it at a > > _very_ > > precise angle to keep yourself in view. > > I reckon Apple could come up with something to work around that. > > For example, what if the camera had a very wide angle lens, but > cropped > the image and filtered it so it looked like a normal webcam. Then, as > you move the pad, it uses the face recognition technology they've > already got, to move the centre of the crop and keep the same view > inside the frame. *raised eyebrow* That would probably work, too. You still get the potential nostril problem though. -zoara- -- email: nettid1 at fastmail dot fm
From: Jochem Huhmann on 3 Feb 2010 11:55
zoara <me18(a)privacy.net> writes: >> For example, what if the camera had a very wide angle lens, but >> cropped the image and filtered it so it looked like a normal webcam. >> Then, as you move the pad, it uses the face recognition technology >> they've already got, to move the centre of the crop and keep the same >> view inside the frame. > > *raised eyebrow* > > That would probably work, too. > > You still get the potential nostril problem though. I can very well imagine that Apple had decided to put a cam in until extended real-world testing with pre-production devices convinced them that the user experience is not what people expect from Apple and they pulled it just to avoid suffering more mockery than they expected anyway. And I could understand that. Neither the case/stand nor the docks seems to allow adjusting the angle of the thing, so you'd have to tilt it around and crane your neck to keep in the picture. Holding the thing in your hands is even worse. Any heavy image analysis and cropping during a video call wouldn't exactly help the thing to perform well, too. Having a wide angle lens and high resolution camera also isn't exactly cheap. You'd need to make this work perfectly or people would laugh at Apple. Well, I wouldn't mind (in the worst case I could just ignore the camera and don't use it) but I can understand that it would be bad marketing to include something that is awkward to use or starts to focus on something else in the room in the wrong moment. When this thing has found a safe spot in the market in a year or two and people are familiar with the idea things may change, but I can understand Apple being extremely cautious right now. Jochem -- "A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery |