What petrified sand dunes look like on Mars

If you’re the outdoorsy type, you might have already seen petrified sand dunes in person (in Utah, for instance) — the photo above, however, isn’t of a desert here on Earth. It’s an image stitched together using several shots captured on August 27th by Curiosity rover’s Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Mars. This sandstone formation originated as sand dunes formed by the wind, which eventually hardened and turned into rock. It’s part of an area called the Stimson unit on Mount Sharp, which lies over a mudstone layer in what used to be a lake. The rover is investigating the location to determine how it changed from ancient times. This close-up image shows just a small part of the place, however: you can see the whole panorama NASA created on its website.

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Science

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Source:
NASA

Tags: curiosity, mars, nasa, space

Honda will test self-driving cars on California streets

Honda just took a big step toward getting its self-driving car technology on to American roads. The automaker has quietly received the approval needed to test its autonomous cars on California streets, letting these robotic rides venture beyond a closed-off facility in Concord. The company is relatively late to the party — Audi, Lexus and other brands have had the state’s A-OK for a while. Still, we’re not going to knock Honda when this will eventually lead to more variety in hands-off vehicles.

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Transportation

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Via:
Reuters, Ars Technica

Source:
California DMV

Tags: acura, autonomous, california, car, honda, self-driving, self-drivingcar, transportation, vehicle

Textural printing lets you get handsy with famous paintings

The act of enjoying paintings and photography has always been a visual experience, one where you look, but don’t touch. However, at the quinquennial (once every five years) Canon Expo this week, the company showed off new technology that might change your relationship with the images on your walls, turning them into objects your fingertips can appreciate as much as your eyes.Slideshow-318828

A textural printer works by putting down UV ink layer by layer — similar to how a 3D printer builds an object out of plastic filament. It determines the appropriate amount of layers by looking at both color and grayscale versions of the image, examining traits like the shadows and highlights to figure out where extra ink will need to be laid down. The whole process can be rather lengthy, but when it’s complete, you have a printed image with actual physical depth. That means noses and chins that protrude from portraits, and defined muscles on an athlete’s thighs, calves and butt that you can stroke (that last part was very popular with Canon Expo attendees).

However, as fun as it might be to grope photos of incredibly muscular people, textural printing has the potential to change how we interact with fine art as well. The tactility of a piece can be replicated, whether it’s made of metal, cloth or other materials. This means that small physical details from paintings like the weave of the canvas, or the drips, ridges and cracks of the paint itself — things that normally can’t be perceived in reprints — can be recreated as well. This makes it possible to create a true-to-life reproduction of a painting like Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and exhibit it anywhere in the world without fear of damage to the original object. And though Canon will never be able to replicate the thrill of seeing the real thing for art aficionados, being able to touch the paintings will probably make school trips to the art museum a little less boring for kids.

[Image credit: Canon]

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Misc, Canon

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Tags: canon, CanonExpo, CanonExpo2015, printing, texturalprinting, Vermeer

Marshall London: What happens when an amp maker builds a phone?

Why does a company famous for making guitar amps decide to make a phone? The Marshall brand realized clinging to its rock heritage won’t serve it forever. That’s why it already moved into headphones and Bluetooth speakers — modern day lifestyle products — via a collaboration with Zound Industries. The “London” phone could easily have just been a rebadge, but the first hint it was going to be something different came at the press event. The news conference had all the trappings of a “proper” handset launch: a nice venue, presentations, even a few famous faces joining the CEO on stage. But, unlike, say, awkwardly peddling U2’s new album, Marshall dished out shots of JD and put on punk rock performances. At one point, an executive on stage proclaimed the company was going to [verb beginning with F] the competition, in the [orifice beginning with A]. Whether that’s going to catch on like Tim Cook’s “We think you’re going to love it,” I’m not sure. I’ll admit, though, it made me instantly warm to Marshall.Slideshow-318746

With its 4.7-inch 720p display, 8-megapixel camera, 2GB of RAM, 16 gigs of storage and 1.2GHz, quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor, the London looks quite tame, especially for the $499 asking price. Said differently, it hardly lives up to the Marshall reputation of going to 11. But, after speaking with the team behind the phone, I get the impression the London is trying to cater for a user who doesn’t care about MHz and GBs — for those that just need a phone that does the basics well enough, but fits into your life in other ways (in this case, music). That’s also possibly a way to excuse a mediocre spec sheet, but for what it’s worth, I believe them.

Conceptually, the London reminds me of the Nokia 808 PureView: an otherwise forgettable phone with a huge 41-megapixel camera attached. The London’s music features give it a similar deliberate focus, but to much less of an extreme — the phone’s totally alright and the music features are solid.

About those features: From what I can tell, there’s a little bit of something for everyone, whether you’re a creator, listener or remixer. For example, there are two headphone jacks, and each gets its own volume control. The dedicated Cirrus/Wolfson sound hub in the London means each listener gets full-power music, too (not a split signal). It’s a neat touch, but no one likes the music I do, so less handy for me.

What I find more interesting is that these jacks are also inputs. With a TRS cable, you can feed a signal (guitar, mic, et cetera) and record it into one of the phone’s (multiple) bespoke recording apps, which you can access with the dedicated “M” button, along with various media players. One of them is a skinned version of Loopstack, a looping app that’s perfect for these audio inputs and Foley recordings — if only I had the right sort of skills, I’d show it off properly. I spent some time meddling with it, and it’s tons of fun: I lost an hour trying to do something for this article. Clearly I need more practice!

My favorite hardware feature is something that’s not immediately visible. Marshall threw in two microphones (on the top and bottom edges), which means you not only get active noise-cancellation on calls, but also get the ability to record proper stereo audio — and the London does that rather well (for a phone). Below is a recording from a gig that switches between an iPhone and the London. The London beats Apple’s phone easily in my opinion, with a much broader range of frequencies recorded/fuller sound, and with so much headroom there’s almost no chance of clipping. The iPhone, however, is tinny and artificially loud (compressed). Listen to it first — it switches every five seconds — and see what you think.

https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/220980780&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true

Have you decided which is better? First or second (and then alternating then on out)? The iPhone was first, and if you listen again, it should be clear (it definitely is with headphones). As for listening on the London, there are two loud (for a phone) speakers on the front, which do a sterling job; they sound better than my LG G4, but I will never, ever want to listen to music on phone speakers. Ever. This is probably a good time to mention that the bundled headphones are Marshall’s own $70 Mode in-ears. I prefer my Aiaiai TMA’s, but for pack-in headphones, these are way better than what you normally get.

It’s unusual that I’d get seven paragraphs into an article about a phone without talking about the actual “phone” part, but there’s not really much to dwell on. The handset itself is pretty cute. It has a soft-touch finish designed to look like the leather Marshall uses on its amps and speakers, and the brass accents are a nice touch. In terms of looks, it’s definitely unique. I dig it, although a few people did ask me if it was a phone in a Marshall case, and that’s indeed kind of what it feels like.

The “Androidy” part of the phone is, eh, okay. It’s Lollipop, and it runs nice enough, although I had a few instances where apps would crash trying to open FLAC files (something the London is very capable of), or moving the volume control — the lovely gnurled brass wheel on the side — wouldn’t do anything. These all seemed sporadic, and cleared after a reboot, but still. Marshall tells me it designed the London so it can receive software updates without carrier involvement, which is something. This includes new features, like a Marshall DJ app that should arrive later this year. Given the dual headphone jacks, this would make the London a legit monitor-and-line-out setup — no crappy headphone splitting, two dedicated audio channels. Another important update will boost the support for 64GB microSD cards to a FLAC-friendly 128GB.

I digress. Software bugs aside, the phone doesn’t feel overly sluggish — just a shade slower than a typical flagship. (I use the G4 as my daily driver.) The same goes for the 720p display. It might be low-res compared to QHD, but in practice it never felt subpar. Not to mention, it helps the (replaceable) 2,500mAh battery last for the two full days I’ve been getting out of it, which is nice. The camera is also not memorable, but you’re probably too rock ‘n’ roll for Instagram anyway, right? In seriousness, the imaging here is fine; it’s just not one of the highlights.

The London is something of a conundrum. For not too far off the $499 asking price, and a bit of shopping around, you can buy a higher-spec phone, like the LG G4 or HTC One M9. The way I see it, why does logic necessarily have anything to do with it? Phones are no longer tools; they’re a part of our daily lives. When you buy a car, some will go for value, or practicality; others will say “screw it” and buy what makes them feel good. And that’s what the London is: It’s singing along to “Bohemian Rhapsody” at the top of your voice in your (original) Mini convertible. Because why the hell not?

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Cellphones, Mobile

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Tags: android, IRL, london, marshall, marshalllondon, mobilepostcross, music

Canon gets into the consumer VR game

Canon might not be a contender in the field of consumer VR right now, but a prototype seen on the show floor at this week’s Canon Expo definitely promises good things in that arena. The development unit sports two 5.5-inch LCD panels, each coming in at 2,560 x 1,440 for a total 5K resolution — topping many devices already on the market (or coming soon). Slideshow-318861

The VR unit isn’t ready for primetime just yet, though. The current model lacks any kind of built-in audio, requiring users put on a pair of external headphones to get the full experience. And it’s not a headset so much as it is a handset — grips on each side allow users to hold it in front of their face. The plus side to this arrangement is that the eyepiece is way more comfortable for glasses-wearers.

The demo video placed me in a large golden room with a domed ceiling, placed in the center of a flamenco performance. The VR unit sports a 120 degree view, and to that effect I was able to turn my head all around to look at each performer individually, including one particularly intense guitar player situated directly behind me. The image was incredibly bright and sharp, as befitting its high resolution, but there was a disconcerting bit of blur whenever I redirected the handset to look at something new — not as bad as say, earlier versions of the Oculus Rift, but still a noticeable flaw in an otherwise attractive experience.

Like many products at Canon Expo, the VR unit is still a work-in-progress with no set release plans. But given the amount of design polish and ergonomic consideration present in the demo unit, I wouldn’t be surprised if the company has something to offer consumers soon.

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Misc, Canon

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Tags: canon, CanonExpo, CanonExpo2015, VR