Lytro, the first light field camera is up for pre-sale with an expected delivery date starting in early 2012 at prices that range from $499 for the Red Hot (red) 16gb or $399 for the Graphite (grey) or Electric Blue (cyan) 8gb. The 16gb version will hold 750 pictures and 8gb will hold 350 pictures.

So what’s so special about Lytro?

Technology: Lytro Light Field Sensor and Lytro Light Field Engine 1.0.
Lens: 8x optical zoom; Constant f/2 lens.
Controls: Power button: Shutter button; Zoom slider; Touchscreen.
Display: 1.46 in | 33 mm back-lit LCD display with glass touchscreen.
Exposure: Tap on touchscreen to set exposure.
Battery: Long-life Li-Ion internal battery.
File Output: Light field picture file (.lfp).
Light Field Resolution: 11 Megarays: the number of light rays captured by the light field sensor.
Software: Includes a free desktop application for importing, processing and interacting with living pictures from the camera. It is built for Mac OS and requires Mac OS X 10.6 or higher. A Windows application is in development.
Picture Output: Produces HD-quality interactive, living pictures.
Picture Storage: Free storage for living pictures on Lytro.com, subject to the Terms of Use. (Internet access required)
Picture Viewing: View and interact with living pictures on the Lytro camera as well as any internet-connected computer, smartphone or tablet supported.
Light Field Engine: Version 1.0. This is the software that processes light fields to produce interactive pictures. Keep watching this space!
Shell: Ultra-light anodized aluminum structural skin.
Grip: TPSiV-Injection Silicon Rubber.

That equates to a picture that you can zoom in and out of without having to reshoot the picture. So if you see something interesting going on in your background, you can zoom in at a later date – take a look at the Adobe Flash based photo gallery. This takes picture bombing to a new level.

The software is Apple Mac only at the moment, but there is a Windows version in development.

[ Links: Lytro Light Field Camera ]

Coding an application from scratch is an intense affair. Libraries, references, classes, includes, programming patterns and if you’re not a programmer, it’s an uphill battle to even get started on a concept.

You can build just about any app you can imagine with App Inventor. Often people begin by building games like WhackAMole or games that let you draw funny pictures on your friend’s faces. You can even make use of the phone’s sensors to move a ball through a maze based on tilting the phone.

But app building is not limited to simple games. You can also build apps that inform and educate. You can create a quiz app to help you and your classmates study for a test. With Android’s text-to-speech capabilities, you can even have the phone ask the questions aloud.

To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app’s behavior.

Via Google Labs, App Inventor for Android allows easy access to the GPS, desktop, SMS and web portions for even the non-programmer. The inevitable fart or banner app that announces your name from across the room will pop-up, but this is a very quick way to start out programming and overcome the hurdles of learning Android from scratch.

Based on Java and able to connect to your Android phone, this looks like an impressive way to start out.

[ Links: Google Labs App Inventor ]

I’m more of a keyboard shortcut person than mouse user any day of the week and seeing something like WindowFlow that allows for easy control and desktop layout of your typical busy as all get out Mac OS X desktop is more than welcomed.

WindowFlow makes organizing your application windows a breeze:

• Keyboard commands allow you to smoothly move and resize windows that snap into alignment.
• Window tiling instantly reorganizes a messy group of overlapping windows to optimally fill your screen.
• Intuitive window switching gives you an ordered list of windows and a preview of the window on the desktop.
• Ideal for developers, designers and power users who work from multiple windows.
• Keyboard junkies will love being able to keep their hands where they are most productive.
• Optimized for Macs with large or multiple displays.
• Operates seamlessly in the background, only becoming visible when needed.
• Highly customizable: re-define the keyboard shortcuts and WindowFlow’s behavior.

WindowFlow comes in Standard Edition and a Pro Edition and currently is 45% off list price.

[ Links: WindowFlow ]

Ubuntu, that oddly named yet consistently good Linux distro has released 9.10 “Karmic Koala”. Including updates to the login experience to the much needed audio framework among other updates…

Ubuntu 9.10 brings changes small and large that all have a common purpose – to make Ubuntu the most user-friendly operating system available. Ubuntu 9.10 features a redesigned, faster boot and login experience, a revamped audio framework, and improved 3G broadband connectivity, all of which contribute to a first-class user experience.

Go download, upgrade and enjoy your non-Apple and non-Microsoft OS that’s actually good enough that your mother could use it.

[ Ubuntu ] [ Ubuntu 9.10 News ]

Just like clockwork, Microsoft updated their Zune software to go alongside the Microsoft Zune HD release. This means that the Zune desktop software also got a fresh new update too.

Upon restarting the Zune software, you will now be greeted by an all purpose “home page” named the Quickplay page. You will see a quick rundown of a Welcome message, what’s new in the Zune Marketplace and your playback history – which… didn’t pick up on anything I’ve played in the prior iteration of the Zune software so far.

The side to side scrolling of within this window… seriously Microsoft. The Zune software breaks every last one of your design conventions for Windows applications and guess what… it works so damn well. Keep it up.

All of the past issues I had, sluggish interaction and the inability to hover over one track or highlight it and just click once to start it… gone. The Zune desktop no longer feels as sluggish as it once did. It transitions, plays, changes colors and looks like no other Microsoft product. The playback screens look just like the Zune 3 software initially, but they behave a bit differently.

I’m still playing but so far… I’m loving it.

UPDATE: It seems like the Zune 120 will get updated to version 3.2 (34) from 3.1 (50) – does that mean that we’re not getting the 4.x update for the player that’s on the Zune HD?