Earlier this week, Microsoft has launched a new consumer-oriented visual medium : Microsoft Photosynth automatically turns a batch of uploaded digital pictures into inelegantly named "synths" – three-dimensional, 360-degree re-creations of objects and places you’ve photographed. It’s kind of like panoramic stitching.

The original photos are kept intact.

To create and view synths, you must download a free software application to your Windows PC; the software works with Microsoft’s free website at www.photosynth.net.

National Geographic photographers have created synths around Machu Pichu, Stonehenge, Yosemite, the Taj Mahal and other locations.

Photosynth is better seen than described.

It aims to take panoramic stitching to a whole new level.

The basic idea : automatically stitch together a collection of digital photos you took touring, say, Times Square or Tiananmen Square, and transform them into a three-dimensional, 360-degree online experience called a "synth". Synths are meant to place you at the center of a "reconstructed" scene : You use the mouse or keyboard to move around. Unlike with video, you choose where to go next.

Even with its limitations, Photosynth is worth a visit...

abstracted from an article by USA TODAY columnist Edward C.Baig (Thursday, August 21,2008)

I was checking this out last night and it was pretty cool.  Kind of a whole new way to navigate a gallery.  Lots of potentials me thinks!

Hmmmmm....sounds interesting!  W ill have to check it out!