Proving that it has indeed learned from Apple's example, Microsoft today unveiled a new technology called "Unwrap Mosaic" which allows a user to do some pretty wild things with digital video. In the demo, Microsoft added a mustache and rosy cheeks to a person in a video. As CNet reports:
"While there are plenty of techniques out there for changing colors in a video and other special effects, adding a full mustache, though, is tricky because although it exists in one place -- the face -- different parts of the face are visible at different times. In the movies, it's done by using a model of the face. But Fitzgibbon's team was looking to create a single tool that would work on multiple types of 3D objects. It's still just a research project. Microsoft has released some of the technology into the public domain. Fitzgibbon also hopes to put a user interface on top of the technology and make it available somehow to the public, though he declined to offer a timetable on that."
It seems to me that Microsoft is taking little steps forward lately to show that it can, indeed, innovate in interesting ways. The (admittedly overpriced and kind of silly) Microsoft Surface technology making its way around the country is one example. Its interface reminds me more of an Apple product than anything I've seen from any company. The Unwrap Mosaic technology is another example of the sort of thing I used to expect from Apple.
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