So, to match the output of the normxcorr2 in matlab, one will need to pad the larger image with zeros before using the normxcorr2_mex. For example, instead of using
ncc = normxcorr2_mex(template, img);
The following code will give you exactly the same result as the output from the Matlab normxcorr2 function:
img_padded=padarray(img,[size(template,1)-1,size(template,2)-1]);
ncc=normxcorr2_mex(template, img_padded, 'valid');

By doing this, we are calculating more correlation values, thus trading off performance, as is indicated by the comparison plot below (still 10 times speed-up with large image sizes, compared with the matlab built-in function) :

1. Follow Christoph Seibert’s guide to compile OpenCV on Mac OS X Tiger. You will need Fink installed (use FinkCommander), as well as Apple XCode and X11.
2. Open an X11 Terminal window and type in the following command to set up the environment for pkg-config.
   export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig
   Or you can add this line to your .bash_profile file.
3. Following the above command, start MATLAB by typing:
   /Application/MATLAB71/bin/matlab
   (use your own version of MATLAB, instead of 7.1 here)
4. In MATLAB command window, type in
   mex -setup
   and choose the default gcc option (# 2).
5. Open a new Terminal window and modify the matlab mexopts.sh file (~/.matlab/R14SP3/mexopts.sh for example). Now open the file with your favorite text editor (vi or pico) and find the section starting with
   mac)
#-------------------------
CC='gcc-3.3'

6. replace the CC line with the following line and save the file.
   CC='gcc-3.3 -bind_at_load `pkg-config --cflags opencv` `pkg-config --libs opencv`'
7. Okay, now you can go ahead and compile the MEX file, by using the “mex” command in MATLAB. For example:
   mex mycode.cpp

Have fun!

The first models could be an iMac or PowerBook with Intel version of Tiger system installed. As the leaked 10.4.3 Developer version of Tiger x86 suggests, most of the softwares will be run smoothly on the new Macs. Using the rosetta technology, even the PowerPC-based programs should still be usable on the new system.

the other one is an iMac, with a remote control and build-in iSight, making it essentially a Media Center.

According to a CNN news report, last quarter Apple sold 6.5 million iPods! Geez, they are doing pretty well!

Hopefully, with all the money they make from iPod, Apple would bring out an even better operation system. I like the 10.4 Tiger, but I am kind of reluctant to upgrade from Panther, just because of all the software incompatibility. Anyway, i am still waiting to see more from Apple

UPDATE on 10-21-2005:
Wow! Apple released a new line of PowerMac: Two dual-core G5 chips = QUAD processors! This is way cool. But I guess many people would wait for the Intel Macs. With hyperthreading, two dual-core Intel chips would be equal to 8 processors (rumor here)!

To make it easier to find these testing binaries, I made a list here:
http://kingler.is-a-geek.net/a-list-of-universal-binaries-for-mac-os-x-tiger/

Take a look at some online forums for more information:

• win2osx
• 360hacker.net
• osx86project

Updated on 09-01-2005

WOW! I found this: Mac OS X Tiger now runs on a normal PC! A VMWare image of Tiger x86 is circulating on the P2P network now. It can be run inside the VMWare on any PC with Windows or Linux host systems.

These are just some preliminary tests and most of the PC hardware drivers are not supported in Tiger x86 yet. But it sounds like the reality of having OSX and Windows on a same PC is coming along faster than I expected.

For more information, you can check out this site dedicated to OSx86.

For those who haven’t heard about Konfabulator: it is a super cool desktop widget manager for Windows and Mac OS X. Yes, I said widget, like the ones in Apple’s Dashboard bundled in the Tiger.

The coolest thing about Konfabulator is that it supports the Windows XP as well as Mac OS X. All the widgets are written in Javascript and cross-platform! So you can get some of that Mac visual style on your dull Windows desktop. Does that sound exciting?

At least I am very excited about the news. With the release of Apple Tiger, I thought Konfabulator will lose quite a lot of users just due to the fact that it is not free and the Dashboard is bundled with the Tiger. Now, with Yahoo!‘s promise to keep the software free of charge, we can expect a much wider spread. I can’t wait to see more fancy widgets now!

mount -o loop -t iso9660 filename.iso /mnt/iso

Windows doesn’t natively support disk images, so you’ll need a third-party software. I strongly recommend the FREE DaemonTools. It is light-weight (<500KB) but very powerful. It supports cue/bin, iso, ccd (CloneCD), bwt(Blindwrite), mds (Media Descriptor File), cdi (Discjuggler), nrg (Nero), pdi (Instant CD/DVD), b5t (BlindWrite 5).

According to the earlier development system test, the Mac OS X on Intel dev system boots up in 10 seconds, compared to more than 1 minute on my Power Mac G5 dual 2.5GHz.

What impressed me most is the performance of Rosetta: dynamic binary translator to run PowerPC-native programs on Intel hardware. It is said that on Intel machines, native PowerPC programs run at about 60%-70% of the orginal speed. I think the basic design of Rosetta is closest to PearPC, which emulates a PowerPC Architecture on Intel platform.

If you take a look at the hardware in the Apple Intel dev system, you won’t notice much of the difference between the Apple system and a normal PC. Although the bundled Mac OS X won’t run on other Intel hardwares than the dev system, it might be possible to home-build an identical Intel-based system. However, I guess Apple will let Mac OS X detect an unique component in their systems, so as to prevent the DIY hack.

We’ll soon see, in less than 1 year now.