Panoramio

We just released a new feature in Panoramio that allows you to browse photos simulating a 3D environment. You can jump from one photo to the closest one, walking virtually around the place or watching the place from many different perspectives. Enjoy the views from the top of Empire State in New York, the last floor of Eiffel Tower or the sights from the Pyramids of Teotihuacan, just by opening the “look around” link under those photos. - Panoramio



Sidney Opera House: nv0.panoramio.com/navigate.php?id=288737
Taj Mahal: nv0.panoramio.com/navigate.php?id=1975890
New York: nv0.panoramio.com/navigate.php?id=37552

What is the Grid?

Well, there's a short answer, and then there's a very long answer.

The short answer is that, whereas the Web is a service for sharing information over the Internet, the Grid is a service for sharing computer power and data storage capacity over the Internet. The Grid goes well beyond simple communication between computers, and aims ultimately to turn the global network of computers into one vast computational resource.

That is the dream. But the reality is that today, the Grid is a "work in progress", with the underlying technology still in a prototype phase, and being developed by hundreds of researchers and software engineers around the world.

The Grid is attracting a lot of interest because its future, even if still uncertain,is potentially revolutionary. - GridCafé

Toward a Quantum Internet

Researchers have built a quantum logic gate in an optical fiber, laying the foundation for a quantum computer network.

The promise of quantum computers is tantalizingly great: near-instantaneous problem solving, and perfectly secure data transmission. For the most part, however, small-scale demonstrations of quantum computation remain isolated in labs throughout the world. Now, Prem Kumar, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Northwestern University, has taken a step toward making quantum computing more practical. Kumar and his team have shown that they can build a quantum logic gate--a fundamental component of a quantum computer--within an optical fiber. The gate could be part of a circuit that relays information securely, over hundreds of kilometers of fiber, from one quantum computer to another. It could also be used on its own to find solutions to complicated mathematical problems. - Technology Review

The Grid: 10,000 times faster than internet

The birthplace of the Web, Cern, which is based near Geneva, is now busy working on "the grid" that boasts speeds nearly 10,000 times faster than a typical Broadband connection, and that may soon render the Web obsolete. [..]

Doyle explained that that network, in effect a parallel Internet, is now built, using fibre optic cables that run from Cern to 11 centres in the United States, Canada, the Far East, Europe, and around the world. From each center, further connections radiate out to a host of other research institutions that use existing high-speed academic networks. Which means Britain alone has 8,000 servers on the grid system so that any student or academic will theoretically be able to hook up to the grid rather than the Internet from this autumn. - techtree.com

Google Android - An Open Handset Alliance Project

Sergey Brin and Steve Horowitz discuss the availability of the SDK, that it will be open source in the future, and demo applications on the Android platform.



code.google.com/android

Seam Carving in FotoFlexer

Seam carving found it's way into online photo editing. FotoFlexer is a powerful editing tool that offers features previously available only to professionals using expensive software.


fotoflexer.com
FotoFlexer Morph Demo

Seam carving is already available as a plugin for Adobe PhotoShop.


blog.picutel.com

Erin McKean: Redefining the dictionary

Is the beloved paper dictionary doomed to extinction? When does a made-up word become real? And could you use "synecdochical" in a sentence, please? In this infectiously exuberant talk, leading lexicographer Erin McKean looks at the many ways in which today's print dictionary is poised for transformation in this internet era. - Ted

Sergey Brin and Larry Page: Inside the Google machine

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin offer a peek inside the Google machine, sharing tidbits about international search patterns and the philanthropic Google Foundation project (which soon became Google.org). - Ted

Search, Google and Life

Google co-founder Sergey Brin at the University of California, Berkeley.

2D to 3D technology

Earthmine

Earthmine is indexing reality.
We're creating an entirely new datamine about our earth that is open, connected, flexible, immersive and scalable. A spatially accurate, truly 3D inventory of our world. It just may be the link that's been missing between information and places. - Earthmine

More

Everyscape a 3D worldviewer made from 2D photos
Photosynth reconstructs photos into a three-dimensional space
Photowoosh create 2D images in animated 3D models
Visualsize 3D measurements from digital pictures