Scan your face in 3D with your iPhone

You Want a 3D scanner, but don't have thousands of dollars to spare? Don't be down, because an new iPnone apps may help you. A new iPhone app turns your face or other object into a 3D computer model that can easily be edited or even reproduced with a 3D printer.

The app, called dubbed Trimensional, was created by Grant Schindler, a computer scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology. It uses the iPhone's screen to project four different patterns of light on to the object being scanned and snaps photos with the front-mounted camera. The app then compares the lighting patterns and stitches the photos together to produce the 3D model.

Schindler admits that this app doesn't stand up to professional 3D scanners, but at 99 cents it's very much, much cheaper. He says you can capture your face and print a replica in just half an hour - provided you have access to a 3D printer. So, do you wanna try it?

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6 Technologies That Are Destined to Be Disappear

6. Handheld Gaming Consoles

 
At some point in the near future, all of our kids will carry smartphones, and they'll find the notion of lugging around a second handheld device preposterous and antiquated. If we were Nintendo, we'd start looking into Android and iOS development today.

5. Pre-Recorded Physical Media

 
Obsolescence has already created the CD. Soon, the media swallowing black hole will demolish DVDs and Blu-ray discs. The only real question is how fast it will happen. Our call? Five years.

4. Consumer-Level Hard Drives

 
Solid-state and other memory-based drives are one threat for mechanical drives, but the bigger threat is the cloud. Our proof? Hard drives are crazy cheap these days-just like floppy drives and HD DVDs were when they neared extinction.

3. Stereotscopic 3D TVs-with Glasses

 
Wearing 3D glasses at home is a hassle, and in general, the technology feels like a temporary bridge to apoint in time when we all have autostereoscopic TVs or holographic displays in our homes.

2. Ebook Reader

This one's a bummer, but it's true. Ebook readers are going to be swallowed whole by tablets and other multifunction devices that hopefully feature secondary e-ink displays. Amazon could fight this by incorporating web browsing and apps into the Kindle, but wouldn't that make it an, erm, tablet?

1. Keys

 
It might take a while and it won't be easy, but keys suck and they deserve to be banished forever. They're already being replaced by push button ignition systems, keypads, biometric locks, and proximity based systems.

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