Nintendo announced it will demonstrate later this summer a next-generation DS handheld video game device with a 3D display that will not require the player to wear special glasses.
  Tentatively named the Nintendo 3-DS, it will ship before the end of March 2011.
  Nintendo has sold 125 million DS units since it was introduced in 2004.
  On the current Nintendo DSi, at least one game uses the frontal camera to track the viewer’s eyes, and alters perspective to emulate a 3D virtual space.

The Apple iPad may lack a camera, but it could be an ideal way to see and share photos. We’ve read reports of professional photographers buying the small computers for use as “brag books.”
  Apple seemed to go out of its way to make photo viewing difficult, unless those images are already on the web or other Wi-Fi connected storage: the iPad itself has no slot for a camera storage card, or even a USB port.
  Apple is selling the iPad Camera Connection Kit for $29 for 2 adapters that plug into the standard iPod-style docking port to provide those 2 functions, an SD card reader, and USB.
  When connected, the iPad launches its Photos app, allowing selected pictures to be imported. Also, when the iPad is synced to a PC or Mac, the photos on the iPad are added to the computer photo library.
  “With the iPad Camera Connection Kit, it’s incredibly easy to download photos from your digital camera to your iPad so you can view them on the iPad display and share them with family and friends,” Apple says.
  Of course, it would be much easier if the iPad had a card slot and USB port as standard equipment.

SnapilyPro <http://pma.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT03Mzg2ODgmcD0xJnU9MTAwMzkzNDk0MyZsaT0yODIxNzk5/index.html> is the first company to offer personalized and short run 3D lenticular prints.
  The service comes from HumanEyes Technologies, which says it is leveraging its extensive knowledge in software and printing to offer short run, personalized lenticular printing.  
  Production and fulfillment are handled in the United States, and products are shipped worldwide.
  To use the service, one uploads images with layers from Photoshop, or HumanEyes Creative3D files. Users can also upload two JPEG or TIFF images to create a ‘flip’ effect. SnapilyPro simulates the 3D image in an online preview.
  The company says interest in 3D printing has increased substantially since the entertainment industry stepped up its use of 3D in movies, television, and related promotions.
  Prints start at $6, plus shipping.

PrimeSense reports its 3D sensing and recognition technologies will power the upcoming Project Natal development for the Microsoft Xbox 360 game platform that will be available at the end of the year, and “deliver revolutionary controller-free entertainment experiences.”
  The PrimeSensor enables a computer to perceive the world in three dimensions, the company says, “and to translate these perceptions into a synchronized depth image, in the same way humans do.”
  PrimeSense technology for acquiring the depth image is based on Light Coding, which works by coding the scene volume with near-infrared light invisible to the human eye. The solution then utilizes a standard off-the-shelf CMOS image sensor to read the coded light back from the scene. The PrimeSense SoC chip is connected to the CMOS image sensor, and executes a parallel computational algorithm to decipher the received light coding, and produce a depth image of the scene. The solution is immune to ambient light.
  PrimeSense <http://pma.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT03Mzg2ODgmcD0xJnU9MTAwMzkzNDk0MyZsaT0yODIxNzk4/index.html>  is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Sharp demonstrated a 3-inch touch screen that displays 3D without requiring glasses.
  The display projects a different image to each eye, when held 1 foot from the viewer’s face.
  The displays are intended for mobile phones, game devices, and cameras.
  Mass production is slated for the next 6 months.
  New Sharp displays are reportedly brighter, thinner, and higher resolution than 3D screens it tried almost a decade ago.

A prototype bionic eye, developed by Bionic Vision Australia researchers at the University of New South Wales, “will deliver life-changing vision for recipients.”
  The “eye” consists of a miniature camera mounted on glasses that captures visual input, transforming it into electrical signals that directly stimulate surviving neurons in the retina. The implant will enable recipients to perceive points of light in the visual field that the brain can then reconstruct into an image.
  BVA says it anticipates “this retinal implant will provide users with increased mobility and independence, and future versions of the implant will eventually allow recipients to recognize faces and read large print.”

Ipplex says its LookTel “is the first augmented reality application created to make a positive impact on the lives of visually impaired and elderly users by increasing functional independence.”
  LookTel has been tested in end-user trials for four years, in partnership with research teams at the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs and others, the company adds.
  LookTel allows users to instantly interact with their world as their mobile phone recognizes everyday objects such as text, money, packaged goods, CDs, or medication bottles, signs, and landmarks.
  The app combines precision image recognition technology with text reader capabilities using optical character recognition.
  When the phone is pointed at what the user wishes to “see,” LookTel pronounces the name of the object or reads the text out loud.
  There are limits to its recognition, so “if additional help is desired,” the company says, “the user can immediately connect with a friend or family member using live video or audio chat right through their mobile phone. Using photos, video, push-to-talk audio, and GPS tracking data sent from the phone, friends and families can help read signs on street corners and buildings, use mapping for further information, and even provide turn-by-turn directions.”
  A demonstration video is available online <http://pma.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT03Mzg2ODgmcD0xJnU9MTAwMzkzNDk0MyZsaT0yODIxNzk3/index.html> .
  LookTel development was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
 Ipplex notes, according to the World Health Organization, there are more than 345 million visually impaired people worldwide, with more than 11 million in the United States.

InVisage Technologies claims its upcoming chips will deliver 2 to 4 times the image quality of current sensors, and enable high pixel count and high performance in tiny form factors, “breaking the inherent silicon performance resolution tradeoff,” the company says.
  “Silicon has hit a wall,” InVisage adds. Standard silicon does not register half the photons it receives, the company claims, while QuantumFilm uses “new materials engineered from the ground up for light capture.” It will integrate with – and add minimal cost to – standard chip fabrication.
  The first target market is mobile handsets, “where there is the greatest demand for small, high-performance image sensors.” The company adds, “This increase in efficiency will deliver improvements across the entire imaging market.”
  The light-absorbing material is made of nanometer-sized semiconductor particles – lead and sulfide crystals, according to reports from MIT Technology Review. It is applied as a liquid that dries into a micron-thick layer.
  Menlo Park, Calif.-based InVisage was founded in 2006, and has more than $30 million in funding. It says its technology is protected by 21 patents and patents pending.
 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has signed on to codevelop the chips. Samples should ship near the end of the year.

The Apple iPad may lack a camera, but it could be an ideal way to see and share photos. We’ve read reports of professional photographers buying the small computers for use as “brag books.”
  Apple seemed to go out of its way to make photo viewing difficult, unless those images are already on the web or other Wi-Fi connected storage: the iPad itself has no slot for a camera storage card, or even a USB port.
  Apple is selling the iPad Camera Connection Kit for $29 for 2 adapters that plug into the standard iPod-style docking port to provide those 2 functions, an SD card reader, and USB.
  When connected, the iPad launches its Photos app, allowing selected pictures to be imported. Also, when the iPad is synced to a PC or Mac, the photos on the iPad are added to the computer photo library.
  “With the iPad Camera Connection Kit, it’s incredibly easy to download photos from your digital camera to your iPad so you can view them on the iPad display and share them with family and friends,” Apple says.
  Of course, it would be much easier if the iPad had a card slot and USB port as standard equipment.