Microsoft Releases Photosynth To Public

Microsoft Live Labs has made public Photosynth it's 3d photo stitching technology that now allows you to create and view immersive 3d photo spaces. "Photosynth takes a collection of regular photographs and reconstructs the scene or object in a 3-D environment. " according to the official Photosynth blog. To create or view photosynths you will be required to download the software but the requirements to run are reasonable, creating your own requires a Photosynth account. Microsoft is giving registered users 20GB of online storage for their Photosynth collections. This, according to CNet writer Josh Lowensohn "can easily fit 60 or more "synths" made up of around 150 to 200 photographs apiece"

I just took a tour of Stonehenge and the experience was great, the interface is intuitive and the images rendered quite smoothly. I'm definitely going to be playing with Photosynth some more...

Intelligence Community Take To The Virtual Spaces

An article in Federal Computer Week (FCW) suggests that the intelligence community is taking the virtual space seriously, forecasting that it may become the next frontier in espionage. In preparation for this, "intelligence community officials have organized a summer meeting that will involve members with secret clearances." The disappointingly named the "Summer Hard Problem Program", doesn't sound very cloak and dagger at all, will last four weeks. “One of the best places to learn about an adversary is to learn their space,” says Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director and chief technology officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Spotting Terror Cells In Online Worlds

The US government has apparently begun a project to spot terrorists at work in virtual worlds. "All of the major terrorist treatises have been distributed through the internet so taking it to a virtual world with multi-player role games is really an easy step." said Andrew Cochran, founder and co-chairman of the Counterterrorism Foundation. Roderick Jones, a vice president of Concentric Solutions explains "Just to feel their way around them and work out what new intelligence collection methods might be required to deal with this threat, because you won't be able to use traditional law enforcement methods." Seems like some of those online foes are more of a threat than one might have anticipated? The BBC has more here.