Lytro's High-Tech Camera To Help Counter Crime?

Silicon Valley start-up, Lytro, took everyone by surprise today by introducing what many of us would've hardly ever imagined: a 'shoot now, focus later' camera.

The idea behind this new device is simple and we can thank the man responsible for this new technology , Ren Ng, for bringing an end to the days of extreme annoyance over blurry images-that is, up until these camera's are actually made available for purchase; for now, the annoyance will remain.

With the new high-tech camera, users will be able to focus their pictures even if they were shot out-of-focus.

Using special software, they will be able to maneuver the focus over the various elements that constitute the picture.

For example, one may choose to focus into the bee that sits peacefully over a flower or deepen the focal point into the beautiful landscape behind.

The implications of this device are quite fascinating.

If you take into consideration the fact that any element displayed on the picture is plausible for focus, then you may just have any organization from the DMV (department of motorized vehicles, if you unfamiliar with this acronym) , to the police department, to the secret service agency interested.

So far, we have been relying on low resolution, single-focus cameras to do all the surveillance and monitoring work for us. Hence, how many key details that would've made a whole world of difference, have we let pass by (think, blurry plane crashing into the Pentagon in the wake of 9/11) for this reason? How many car license plates have we failed to identify for the same reason? How many criminals have we failed to recognize?

The applications for this yet to be named camera are simply mind-blowing.

We have a game-changer here.