This past Monday, I posted an introduction to Off-limits Panoramas (Part 1) — where we basically break the rules and take a panorama (using 360 Panorama v 3.0 — coming December 1 to the iTunes App Store) in a place where it’s not exactly allowed. We do this all in the name of answering one key question: Why does speed matter when it comes to capturing panoramas?

Today we’ve got another exciting exploit in NYC, this time in the the Met Life building, which is considered one of the most secure in New York City.

This time around, Vikas sticks his neck out to capture the interior of this historic building’s main floor plaza:

Here’s the actual panorama.

Off-limits Panoramas Part 3, the Finale: Coming Wednesday.

Since the sale of RedLaser to eBay, people have been asking what’s next for Occipital. While RedLaser has been in the limelight, the team has been hard at work on our next-generation computer vision application.

Today we’ve launched 360 Panorama (app store: $2.99): realtime panorama creation for your iPhone 4 or 3GS. Gone is the need to stitch together a series of still photographs. With 360, simply pan your phone in any direction and watch as our computer vision system builds a panorama in realtime. Capturing a panorama on your phone has never been easier.

360 Panorama is our first major release since RedLaser, and we’ve surmounted many challenges to make it happen. We’re proud to say there’s simply no other app like it.

Here’s a short video preview of 360 Panorama in action:

Video updated 12/14/10 to feature v 3.0!

Tech Note: The first release of 360 Panorama is optimized to make panorama capture extremely fast and easy so that you can share panoramas very rapidly. As we improve the precision of generated panoramas, we’ll also add options for higher resolution outputs. Current resolution of a 360 degree panorama is 2048 4096 pixels wide (which is still wider than most monitors).

I love photography.  And I like the fact that I can take digital photos on a device that fits in my pocket and is always with me.  However, I hate the fact that many of the pictures I take come out blurry just because there is a little motion in the scene or because I didn’t have the camera perfectly still for the shot.

I’m tired of guessing when everyone is standing still enough to get a good picture.  I’m tired of working so hard to keep the camera still when I take a picture.  Most importantly I’m tired of missing the truly special moments just because I can’t get the camera to stay still at the same time as everyone in the scene.  There has to be a better way!

When I found what appeared to be the solution I was estatic: ClearCam‘s quickshot mode.  A camera that took several shots and then just kept the best one – the one where the camera was still AND motion in the scene was minimal.  Brilliant!

Then disappointment set in when I realized it wasn’t in a condition to be released through the App Store.  So a long story short, I called up Jeff and Vikas and said what’s up with that?  Don’t you realize what you’ve developed is the perfect solution to this problem?  Of course they knew that but were way too busy with the success of RedLaser to put energy into it.  Kudos for that, but seriously I was missing way too many moments with this mobile camera that had everything going for it but the ability to reliably capture moments.

With no where else to turn, I reluctantly dusted off my Xcode development environment, formed a partnership with Occipital and off we went.  In the process we have taken ClearCam’s quickshot mode to the next level by virtually eliminating time required between shots (just in case there’s more than one moment to capture, or you’re just not sure which moment you will need to capture).

And finally, for the first time ever, I find myself trusting my iPhone camera.  Seriously trusting it.  For me, it has become one of the only apps I use on a daily basis.  I hope it changes mobile photography for others as much as it has for me.  It’s been fun guys, thanks.

Now if only there were an app that would help me improve those once in a lifetime shots I keep coming across without my DSLR.  There has to be a better way…

I think that a search for elements of nature on flickr is probably the most fruitful ways to find great, unique, desktop wallpaper.  Certain elements in nature are better than others, however.  I think sunlit water droplets on leaves are curiously perfect for desktop backgrounds.  Search for “leaf droplets”

Shimmering sunlit droplets with fisheye world reflection, held by surface tension to the epidermis of a leaf.  Or a series of droplets perfectly distributed by the leaf’s vein structure.  These typically macro mode photos will also have a perfectly blurred background, further enhanced if taken with SLR cameras, so they won’t obscure icons.  You really have to be a bad photographer to mess up this shot.

What other nature searches produce brilliant wallpaper?