binning
n.— «Samsung manages to preserve low-light performance at such resolutions and framerates on such a small sensor using a technique called “binning,” whereby certain pixels are sometimes deactivated and grouped together to help gather light for active pixels. In other words, if you’re, uh, Vlogging in the dark, your webcam stream might look like it’s 720p, but in reality a significant number of pixels might be clumped together. But at least you’ll be able to see them.» —“Samsung Webcam Sensor Handles 720p, Fits Inside Your Laptop Bezel” by John Herrman Gizmodo Dec. 5, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...
Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha’s savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature and predicted the effects of human activity on...