Image Processing Tech Makes Magic Manipulations

One of the gems we found at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is Swedish company Scalado. Its technology makes powerful image manipulation features in mobile devices possible.

Scalado is one of those companies that works behind the scenes. You probably never heard of it, but you might well own a product that incorporates its software.

Below, InformationWeek's Fritz Nelson interviews Scalado CTO Sami Niemi who describes and demonstrates the company's technology. The secret is something called "random access jpeg," or RAJPEG. Scalado technology manages images much faster and more efficiently than conventional means.

Niemi demonstrates fast zooming in and out, fast and smooth panning, and quick opening of large numbers of images. And that's the boring part. Where it really gets cool is where he shows how images can be manipulated in order to remove or move around foreground objects, or create high-quality panoramas or 3-D objects.

Check out the Scalado site for more amazing demos.