Embedded Vision Insights: February 16, 2012 Edition

Dear Colleague,

Shortly after declaring bankruptcy on January 19th, longstanding photography pioneer Eastman Kodak announced last week that it was winding down its digital imaging product line this year, focusing going forward on patent licenses, printers, enterprise services, photo labs and (ironically) disposable silver halide film-based cameras. Yet, as anyone who uses online services such as Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Picasa and YouTube already knows, still and video photography is more popular than ever. So what happened? To some degree, Kodak's digital debacle, in spite of debuting the technology nearly 40 years ago, was the result of unwillingness to turn its back on its silver halide heritage and fully embrace the digital future.

But Kodak's not the only company having problems; traditional competitors such as Canon and Sony are also struggling. That's because standalone cameras have largely fallen out of favor in recent years, with the increasingly capable imaging subsystems integrated within cellphones, tablet computers and other multi-function devices as the heirs apparent and ascendant. This evolutionary transition is good news for embedded vision developers. As I've written about on numerous occasions in recent months, cellphones and tablets are open systems that represent fruitful development ground for independent developers. Whether the application involves health care, security, automotive driver assistance, a gesture-augmented user interface or any of the countless other implementations that have emerged, they wouldn't have been possible in the comparatively closed-system camera past.

In other news, as I first mentioned in an Embedded Vision Insights newsletter edition published shortly after the December 2011 Embedded Vision Alliance Summit, EVA member Texas Instruments (TI) has upgraded its membership to the premier Platinum tier. According to Niels Anderskouv, vice president, Digital Signal Processing Systems at TI, "Embedded vision and vision analytics are becoming pervasive in many applications, including video security, machine vision, automotive safety or even your refrigerator at home. Texas Instruments’ digital signal processing products provide the real-time precision and high performance that’s at the core of many of these innovative applications. TI is proud to now be a platinum member of the Embedded Vision Alliance and anticipate that our role will help the Alliance further spur exciting innovation in the industry." As of earlier this week, TI's Platinum Portal on the Embedded Vision Alliance website is live and ready for your perusal. I encourage you to check it out, learn more about the company and its embedded vision involvement, and periodically revisit the Portal as TI (and I) add more material.

Finally, speaking of Embedded Vision Alliance Summits, the next one will be held on Thursday, March 29, in San Jose, CA. Alliance member representatives should have already received preliminary email communication about the event; please confirm your planned attendance as soon as possible and look for a detailed agenda to come shortly. The Summit will be held coincident with and close by the Design West Conference series, which includes the Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley. We'll be inviting key members of the technology analyst and press community to join us beginning mid-day for a compelling series of embedded vision presentations, panel discussions, and product introductions, not to mention a cocktail reception. If you're an analyst or journalist who'll be in Silicon Valley that week and hasn't yet heard from us, I apologize; please drop us an email and we'll be sure to add you to the attendance list. And for the rest of you, stay tuned for more information on the earlier-mentioned product introductions, representing compelling embedded vision breakthroughs from several Alliance member companies.

As always, I encourage you to contact me with your ideas about making the Alliance, this newsletter and the website better. Thanks for your interest and involvement in the field of embedded vision, and for your support of the Embedded Vision Alliance.

Brian Dipert
Editor-In-Chief, Embedded Vision Alliance

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Embedded Vision Insights: February 16, 2012 Edition

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