Planet CNET: Spins, blurs, and flashing lights Video
Planet CNET: Spins, blurs, and flashing lights Video Transcript
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>> Hey there I'm Kara Tsuboi reporting from CNET Headquarters in San Francisco. Welcome to Planet CNET, our weekly show where our CNET editors around the world showcase the latest tech news and cool gadgets from their home countries. We begin this episode in France with the oh-so private and suddenly camera-shy Louise Ghegan.
>> A few days ago, StreetView was launched for the first time in Europe -- in France to be more accurate. And the French National Data Processing and Liberties Commission thinks Google Maps service is too indiscreet, thus the Commission issued a warning relating to the automated blurring process, which is not fool-proof. Apparently, some faces and registration licenses have been missed and not blurred properly. So if you would like to report on a photo, a registration license or any problem, feel free to do it, thanks to the link, StreetView Help. French laws are supposed to protect the individual's right to privacy and right to one's picture. As well as technology, which is not always reliable as you can see. Oh, well, I'm Louise Ghegan, thanks for watching.
>> Cute story Louise, although your production staff could use some training. Wait a second, here in America, we wanna be seen. Everything's public theater -- remember? Moving on to CNET Singapore, Damian Koh takes us in a ride in the capital city's latest attraction. One warning though, acrophobics stay home.
>> Hi, I'm Damian Koh for CNET Asia and we are here at the Singapore Flyer, the largest observational wheel right now. Standing at 165-meters, that's roughly the height of a 42-storey building. In comparison, the London Eye is just 135-meters. Built at a cost of 240 million Singapore dollars, the Singapore Flyer is located at the Southeastern peak of the islands tail overlooking the entire cityscape and coastline. Its air conditioned cabin can accommodate up to 28 passengers with limited seats available inside. Right beneath this towering wheel is a central atrium that opens up to a tropical rainforest with an open-air theatre for life of commuters, as well as eateries. These metal steel structures are what's holding the wheel up and together with a cabins, the Flyers weighs over 450-tons. So what drives this giant wheel?
>> Well, this giant wheel is driven by creating motors over here. You can see that they are pushing the wheel from the rim out. There's nothing that drives it from the middle. It's driven essentially from the rim. It takes about 30 minutes to 10-mile round. It's really a very big, like bicycle wheel, with spokes and with a rim. We actually received a green mark for energy efficiency.
>> Here's something the public won't get to see.
>> This is the operations room. In case of what's happening the operations room is that the operator is going to be monitoring the common status of the cabin, as well as the movement of the wheel. This is the control panel, so what it does is to stopping of the wheel and also moving and slowing down the wheels. We have two surveillance cameras in the capsules. It helps us in seeing the movements of the passengers in the capsule. Okay, we have for smoke detectors in the cabin, okay. Once smoke is being detected, the alarm will be sent to the control panel, okay. Now we will start the power fire response plan. There is no emergency exit in the capsule, okay, but what we do have the ability to actually turn the wheel or increase the speed of the wheel, both directions and in order to evacuate the passengers quickly.
>> Let's give a round these cabins right now. Well, it's easy now hopping in. Inside, it's fully air conditioned and all glass except for the floor -- fortunately. So, is 29.50 Singapore dollar is worth it for 30 minute in the Singapore Flyer -- look for yourself. You get unobstructed 360-degrees sites of the Singapore cityscape and nearby Malaysia and Indonesia Islands. Come September, we can get a panoramic view of F-1 race from the Flyer and by late 2009, the surrounding mood at night comes alive with an integrated resort casino and night life. And that's the Singapore Flyer. I'm Damian Koh, signing off from Singapore.
>> By the way, 29.50 in Singapore dollars translates to about 22 U.S. dollars. And for a whooping 1100 U.S. dollars, you can rent out an entire capsule for your private party. So, let's see, that works out to about 36 bucks a minute. Worth it? You be the judge. And finally, I'm gonna take you on a tour of the studio of a San Francisco-based company that isn't building buildings, but rather decorating them with videos among many other mind-blowing projects. Check it out. ^M00:04:53 [ Music ] ^M00:04:56
>> Playing a video game is so much more fun at my own surround-gaming pod.
>> We see this probably within the next five to ten years as sort of a new display technology for video games.
>> Based in San Francisco, Obscura Digital is a marketing company that sees itself as revolutionizing the advertising world with its interactive and immersive technologies.
>> We like to view the company as the company that sort of changing the face of marketing and so using advanced video technology solutions to help our clients bring either products to market or their services.
>> The seven-year-old company got its start with this projection dome.
>> Kind of getting inside of the environment into the [inaudible]. So you could take a journey through grid computing. I mean, it sort of depends on what the client wants and what their message is and when people come in, they kind of get immersed in that overall environment.
>> They've been a hit at corporate events and lavish parties worldwide. For example using a similar technology, the company wraped New York City's meat packing district with video for the launch of iGoogle.
>> We lit up buildings ranging from two-storey little buildings all the way up to fourteen-storey hotels and synchronize the entire neighborhood with promotion videos -- a really stunning projects.
>> Obscura has also branched out to explore interactive touch technology.
>> Tons of people can walk up and touch and play with, you know -- manipulate data and video.
>> They can send it off to frame? How cool is this. How is this working?
>> It's actually has got some sensors that just sense when you touch and then our engineers have written the application to actually kind of interface with multiple touch points that kind of pull any kind of real-time data feeds, RSS feeds. These type of display could be sort of the hub of your digital home in the future.
>> Back to my grand prix video game originally designed by R-Factor.
>> We provide them with the surround camera that actually renders five different views, so right, left, up, down, forward and then our software is stitching it back together in real time and then applying it to the surface.
>> Now Patrick tells me that they can install those sweet domes for any type of occasion and not just corporate events. I told him my birthday's coming up in August, so if it pulls through with my own projection dome, you're all invited. Thank you for watching Planet CNET, we'll see you next week. I'm Kara Tsuboi reporting from CNET San Francisco. ^M00:07:05 [ Music ]
It sounds like a bad acid trip, but on this edition of Planet CNET, we spin in Singapore, get blurred out in France, and witness some mesmerizing flashing lights in the United States.
