Catalogo Experimenta 06

INDEX SCIENTIFIC STUDIES
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ted towards levels of increasing quality in the detection of
images, obvious applications are those of the very high definition
television with resolution of different Mpixels: there
already exist screens of 6 Mpixels, even if the prices are
prohibitive. The research laboratories of IBM have created
two screens of 9.2 Mpixels, a quality equivalent to approximately
the capacity of resolution of our eye.
In the field of sensors for cameras, we have reached 39
Mpixels. The level of definition around 10-16 Mpixels (therefore
larger in respect to the 6-8 Mpixels foreseen two years
ago) could represent an arrival point for the market, nevertheless
the type of processing that will be called for inside the
camera will again push the elaborative capacity.
VISUALISATION TECHNOLOGIES
From point of view of the market of systems for the visualisation,
in these years interest in those thin screens of larger
dimensions has increased. A real about turn, which requires
a technological jump, it will be that of producing screens of
resolutions of more than the 6-8 Mpixels. Technologies of the
NED type (Nano Emission Display) are very promising in this
sense with the potential density of pixels of the order of a
larger size than that obtainable with the LED technologies
and plasma.
The increase in the resolution makes these screens utilisable
also at close distance, typical of our houses. The nearer distance
increases the field of vision: when this exceeds 128
degrees, our brain has the impression of finding itself in the
image. It is the sensation that we have when we assist in the
projection in an IMAX theatre, in which the image seems to
wrap around us. In addition, the presence of a screen with definitions
above the capacity of resolution of our eye (around 8
Mpixels), perceptively transforms, that screen into a window
which opens the vision on another environment.
We can then go on a safari in Africa and, instead of the post
card memory, buy the access to an Internet address which,
once at home, we can associate it with a certain window, opening
it on that pool of water where the animals go to drink.
It will be like having a seat in the first row of the savannah.
The applications are obviously a lot, but the most important
element to emerge is an always-on communication.
This, at the audio level, is already happening: Skype is a revolution
because it transforms the way of communicating.
When one is connected to Skype the names of those who
have given accessibility to be visible are visualised: when they
are connected I immediately see persons, friends, colleagues,
even they in that moment are connected. They are persons to
whom I would never have “telephoned” in that instant but
who seeing that they are present, activate in me a desire to
communicate, even for a brief moment. We do not go out of
the house to go to a friend, but if we meet him on the road it
is obvious that we stop, with pleasure, to have a chat.
There is another aspect, as important, implied by the “paradigm”
Skye. Not only by a quick glance do I see who is present
on the “square”, but I manage also to understand that this
presence could translate into a willingness to communicate:
the symbol associated with the icon of the person, I inform
myself whether the person is involved in another conversation
such as, in the real square, I can see two people who are
talking to each other and therefore probably I will not interrupt.
A person can be instantaneously present on hundreds of
virtual squares bringing with them an enormous number of
questions and also of an opportunity to reply that are converted
into business. This is the world of the always-on, of the
network which really becomes thousands of squares, a world
of singles that make up a community.
New technologies of the proto-prototypal, promise to paint
the screens on the walls. The wall will become similar to
a giant computer screen on which we can move the images
from one point to another. Smaller, already today, some