Word: shots
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...Called the Party-shot, Sony's $150 accessory is a camera dock - not much bigger than a palm-sized paperweight - that enables users to enjoy themselves at gatherings without worrying about who is documenting the event. Attach a compatible camera (sorry, Sony only), and the Party-shot will take over, panning and tilting, zooming in and out, and snapping shots of any people who pause in front of it long enough to be detected. (See the top 10 everything...
...Party-shot was released in September without much fanfare, even though it's the first robo-cam on the market aimed at consumers. The obvious question is, have digital cameras, nowadays equipped with a considerable amount of artificial intelligence, come so far that they make human photographers obsolete? We tried out the Party-shot at a recent office potluck, and came away thinking it's less a substitute for a human photographer, and more a supplement...
...Mated with Sony's latest Cyber-shot models, either the WX1 or TX1, the dock is certainly less conspicuous than a roving photographer, making only a quiet whirring noise as it sweeps its surroundings for human faces. Most of the photos it takes are focused and properly exposed, even when the flash is off indoors. It frames portraits well (although at middle distances, it tends to cut people off at the waist) and it's not stymied by profiles or multiple faces, as long as nobody's moving. It can easily take 150 photos an hour at the high frequency...
...Party-shot suffers the same challenge as speech-recognition software: for people to embrace it, it needs to be able to at least match what people can do. And while the robo-cam took plenty of OK shots, it lacks the sophistication to capture classic Kodak moments. Not that Sony's engineers aren't working on it. Designers realized that posed shots often look forced. So the robo-cam is meant to capture people in natural situations. Unfortunately, that meant the Party-shot took just as many shots of subjects with half-closed eyes and mouths mid-chew...
Tiller, who had originally planned to become a dermatologist, lived with the knowledge that his actions made him a target. There are only a handful of clinics in the country where women can obtain an abortion late in pregnancy; Tiller's was bombed in 1986. In 1993 he was shot in both arms. He received death threats regularly, wore body armor and traveled with a guard dog. Just a few weeks before the shooting, the clinic's security cameras and lights were vandalized; Tiller asked the FBI to investigate. He was repeatedly tried - and acquitted - on charges of violating state...