Lots of cool stuff at BTC

There was so much brain power in the Business Technology Center the other day, I thought my own brain was going to explode with all the information (See the story on the 10th anniversary of the center in the Nov. 6 business page).

As the center's administrator Stan Tomsic showed me around, I felt like I was getting a first-hand and early glimpse of ideas that some day we might take for granted.

Two that immediately come to mind were a pair of three-dimensional-imaging binoculars and a light source -- a "virtual filament" - that, at least in the example I saw the other day, could replace a traditional 60-watt bulb with another that uses only 10 watts.

The binoculars were interesting enough on their own. But consider that StereoVision Imaging CEO Gregory Steinthal has fused in facial recognition technology with a version of his binoculars, which generate an image that can be downloaded and viewed in 3-D.

I was skeptical at first. But I put on the glasses and looked at the computer monitor, and sure enough I found myself grasping at an image on a computer screen as if the subject of the image - flowers - were right in front of me.

Anyway, thanks to Steinthal and to LPI  President Robert Alvarez and Executive Vice President Waqidi Falicoff -- developers of the virtual filament, and a lot of other interesting stuff -- for showing photographer Walt Mancini and I around.

It was a look at innovation -- regardless of whether it's ever successful or not -- that is happening right here in the San Gabriel Valley.