Liquid-Lens Webcam
A new self-focusing webcam is the first consumer product with a liquid lens. The lens, from the French company Varioptic, consists of an oil-based and a water-based fluid sandwiched between glass discs in a drum the size of a watch battery. An electric charge causes the boundary between the oil and water to change shape, altering the lens’s focus. Because the lens has no moving parts, it’s more durable than other lenses of similar size.
Courtesy of Akkord
Product: SnakeCam
Cost: About $22 for the 1.3-megapixel version, $24 for the 2-megapixel version
Source: varioptic.com
Company: Akkord
Keep Reading
Most Popular
The dark secret behind those cute AI-generated animal images
Google Brain has revealed its own image-making AI, called Imagen. But don't expect to see anything that isn't wholesome.
The hype around DeepMind’s new AI model misses what’s actually cool about it
Some worry that the chatter about these tools is doing the whole field a disservice.
The walls are closing in on Clearview AI
The controversial face recognition company was just fined $10 million for scraping UK faces from the web. That might not be the end of it.
This horse-riding astronaut is a milestone in AI’s journey to make sense of the world
OpenAI’s latest picture-making AI is amazing—but raises questions about what we mean by intelligence.
Stay connected
Illustration by Rose WongGet the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.