Meeting human needs with new digital imaging technologies

It´s a visual world. Images capture many people´s thrills, emotions, and concerns. Art can shock or inspire, and family photos are some of our greatest treasures. It´s not surprising that visual information is a vital component of the new computing. Most people depend on visual input to understand the world around them and as a basis for further creative activities. The popularity of visual media such as photos, short videos, and animations attests to their mainstream acceptance. Digital photos and image-laden Web pages have already become major computing applications, but users still want higher-resolution images and faster downloads