New Technology "Lightfield" Camera

[Schneibster]

This camera uses a new technology to allow a picture to be refocused on anything in the field of view after it's already been taken. The technology uses microlenses at the focal plane to capture all the information, not just the raw light intensity and color, across the field of view.

Manufacturer's site:
http://www.lytro.com/camera/

Make sure you scroll down to the dandelion and play with the focus. This is a real picture taken with the exact funny looking little box you see there. Note that the size is somewhat restricted; this is the price you pay for the ability to focus later. It picks out the pixels that are in focus and ignores the rest. Actually it synthesizes them in real time from the stored information; but since it only uses the in-focus information for the selected focal plane, it's exactly equivalent to what I've told you.

The Wikipedia article is quite informative if a bit short:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightfield_camera

I think this can be put into DSLRs. You might even be able to turn it off and on.

You probably will have just started seeing the Nokia commercials for a smartphone that uses this technology for its built-in camera. I think this may be this technology's killer app.