Digital cameras keep packing in the pixels, but they can’t hide the truth: Photos are flat. Now, engineers at Stanford University have developed a way to bring 3-D clarity and depth to the world of 2-D photography.

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For the past two weeks, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has been broadcasting a wealth of incredible images from its landing site in the Martian arctic. I've been refreshing the mission's raw photo stream obsessively—no little green men yet, just gorgeous panoramas and detailed closeups of the most foreign of all foreign lands. Being a bit of a camera geek, I was quite curious as to what kind of hardware was behind the action, and naturally, Phoenix has some pretty sweet gear on board to make it all possible.

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Our own Theodore Gray (the man behind Gray Matter's mad science) is currently in China, and he's taken the opportunity to put his new Casio EX-F1 high-speed camera to excellent use at the Beijing Zoo. And when we say excellent we mean the majestic hawk at the Beijing zoo defecating and flapping its wings at 300 frames per second kind of excellent. And if that's not enough, he's got a dolphin leaping from beneath the water and a sparrow taking flight to boot.

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When you're vacationing on a beach, nothing beats an underwater camera; but watertight cases are pricey and disposables have lousy quality. Lucky for you, the editors of PopSci have come up with an easy workaround using something there's probably already plenty of in your suitcase (hint: not socks). That's right, thanks to the magic of unlubricated condoms, you too can transform your point-and-shoot into an waterproof wonder. The set-up is easy enough, but as John and Doug demonstrate, it really does help to have a partner lend a hand.

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Last year, we reported on the Adobe light-field camera, a prototype device with 19 lenses which captures 19 versions of the same image at different focal lengths. The associated software then lets the user choose which parts of the resulting photograph should be in focus, which can produce a virtually 3D image. We also briefly mentioned a project at Stanford University which is experimenting with their own multi-lensed device.

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Camera makers love the incremental update: selling a new model with just enough enhancements that you'll be tempted to trade up. But if you own one of several Canon point-and-shoots, you can get new features, such as shooting in high-quality RAW format, measuring accurate exposures via a live histogram, and even running simple applications like games or a calendar, without having to pay for an upgrade. All you need to do is replace your firmware, the computer code embedded in the camera's memory that serves as its operating system.

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PopSci presents over 90 pages of the season's hottest tech: Everything from phones, speakers and cameras to yes, even vacuums.

To launch the gallery, click "View Photos"

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The smaller your camera, the more susceptible it is to even the slightest tremble, which can leave your photos looking like Impressionist paintings. Fortunately, optical image stabilization has trickled down from pro cams to the shake-prone pocket models. The cameras use motion sensors to detect any quiver and move a piece of the lens to compensate for it. I tested three in the most blur-inducing scenarios: in low light without a flash-the slow shutter speed gives you more time to twitch-and at full zoom, which magnifies shake.

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Launch the slideshow here.

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Quick, how many cables go into the back of a wireless (a.k.a. Wi-Fi or 802.11) netcam? That would be one: a power cord.

How many cables go into the back of a wired netcam, which hooks directly into your ethernet? Also one, if you´re using PoE (power over ethernet). PoE takes advantage of the fact that only two of the four twisted pairs of wire (connected to pins 1/2 and 3/6) in a standard Cat5 ethernet cable carry signals. The other four wires are available to deliver power to your camera or whatever other AC-powered device you have on the network.

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movie tech, cameras, april 1926

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