As if internet porn didn’t need any more help in pioneering technology, Aperio Technologies Inc. has utilized the multi-featured TIFF format to produce a one trillion pixel image (that’s a size of about 1,000,000 X 1,000,000 pixels!) of 225 copies of a slide that shows breast cancer. This 1 terapixel image is over 4GB, which used to be the ceiling limit of the TIFF format.

This advancement was accomplished by using Aperio’s powerful scanner technology:

Aperio’s ScanScope® slide scanning systems create digital images of entire microscope slides at gigapixel resolution in minutes. These digital slide images are very large, with dimensions that routinely exceed 100,000 x 100,000 pixels. The TIFF standard is perfect for storing digital slides - it is an open standard supported by a large number of applications on a wide variety of platforms. Until recently TIFF files were limited in size to 4GB, or about 30 gigapixels. With BigTIFF support it is now possible to store images of all sizes, including those larger than 4GB, in the TIFF format. The BigTIFF design was first proposed in 2004 by Joris Van Damme of Aware Systems, and has been refined in online discussions on the TIFF message boards.

The picture of the one trillion pixel breast can be found here.

[Via medgadget]

This article may be directed at the wrong crowd since you’re reading this, which means you can see. Over at USC they’ve developed prosthetic retinas. There’s been about 6 participants who had them implanted and they can detect light as well as distinguish between objects like plates and cups in some cases. A huge step up from being blind.

The Argus II is the second generation of retinal prosthetics with 60 electrodes instead of the first generation’s 16. This second generation version is also a quarter of the size making the surgery simpler and providing faster recovery rates.

[Via DailyTech]