It had a crude prototype of a digital camera as early as 1975 and in the mid-1990s helped Apple develop its QuickTake 100 digital camera.

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The first digital camera prototype is closest to the fire ant's compound eyes, which only have 180 of these optical units, called ommatidia.

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And several companies had concept and prototype devices that envisioned digital cameras and global positioning system expansion devices that would fit into the SD card slot.

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However with the introduction of lighter weight and more flexible plastic substrate magnetic tapes, combined with a vacuum column to control the tension that the magnetic tape experiences during use, the IBM 726 was a prototype of the modern digital tape recording system.

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In addition, to show how local TV broadcasters can now offer more than just linear TV channels, LG Electronics is showing its first Android-enabled smartphone prototype equipped with Mobile Digital TV (MDTV) reception, which offers conditional access functionality for future subscription broadcasts and the capability of receiving "non-real time" data such as electronic coupons.

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Stratasys makes boxy machines that turn digital drawings into life-size prototype parts within a few hours.

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For every interesting gadget or prototype, there were dozens of small booths hawking digital detritus.

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New Zealand's Industrial Research looks to be attracting quite a bit of interest in its prototype handheld 3D scanner, snagging fellow New Zealanders Weta Digital to help put the technology through its paces and now hoping the police will hop on board to put the scanner to more grisly uses.

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Once he established the science behind the idea was possible, he built a prototype, which involved a sensor that detects what level of agitation a patient is experiencing, using a digital video camera.

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