
You know what the internet loves? Nostalgia. Seriously. I mean, have you ever heard of Tumblr? It's full of people posting ads and pin-up girls from 50 years ago.
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So really, this new camera app from those crazy kids at MIT should, in theory anyway, make the internet explode. It's still in its prototype phase at the moment, so it currently requires a laptop connected to a camera, but what it essentially does is direct your camera to the exact co-ordinates of a pre-existing historical photo of that spot.
So, say you're in Paris and you would love to compare your own shot to the same scene a hundred years ago? (You're an internet geek, I take it?) The app will send you the best position and zoom to get a matching shot.
In the future, the folks at MIT expect that, rather than lugging around a laptop around, the technology will simply be built into the camera as an app. Though really, knowing those people at MIT, what they actually meant was "we'll put a chip in your brain and then send you out to do surveillance for us". Or, that's what I assume.
About the Author

Navneet Alang is a Toronto-based technology and culture writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic and The Globe and Mail. Between 2010 and 2011 he wrote technology commentary for TECHi on Apple, cloud video and the future of the desktop computer.


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