News: Maxine Waters Charged With Ethics Violations
From The Huffington Post: California Democrat Maxine Waters faces a House trial this fall on three charges of ethical wrongdoing.
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News: Did Inception Rip Off a Scrooge McDuck Comic?
You tell us. It's quite possible Christopher Nolan locked The Dream of a Lifetime into his memory bank, not knowing years later it would subconsciously shape Inception:
News: Brain-Computer Interface Gives New Meaning to "Mind Control"
Can a well-directed thought be as good as a mouse click? With an Emotiv EPOC headset, the answer is yes. And then some. Though Emotiv describe their device as a "high-resolution, neuro-signal acquisition and processing wireless neuroheadset," we're quite content to call it a thinking cap.
HowTo: Build Your Own Camera Lenses
The prerogative of most fancy, pricey lenses nowadays is ultimate sharpness. However, if you're partial to that soft, out of focus look, you can make your own lenses to achieve this type of effect.
HowTo: Print Cement
Printers are getting pretty high tech these days. Print a building, print some organs... and now, print your own cement sculptures.
iPad Fingerpainting: Museum Worthy?
Representational painting requires great skill and practice. The best examples aptly capture light, breathing life into the work. Accurate proportion and perspective is an asset. Matching what you perceive as the correct color to what actually is the correct color requires a highly trained eye.
News: Barf to Beauty
Ok, the word "barf" may be a little strong... but, c'mon, would you put a dead rat on your scanner bed?
The Big Bambu: Amazing Art at the Met
This summer if you are in New York get yourself in some rubber soled shoes, buy a timed ticket in advance and run to the rooftop of The Met for The Big Bambu. It’s green, literally. It’s made from one of the most sustainable materials around. And it’s even recyclable! And you can walk through it!
News: "Star Wars Fridays" in the Office, Please
Casual Fridays is so yesterday. Ignore the pretentiously relaxed dotcom dress code. Mock the jean-clad Wall Street bankers racing to grab a seat on the Hampton Jitney. Let's return Friday to a proper dress code. It's time to honor the greatness of George Lucas.
News: The Brain-Defying Human LCD Screen
Words can't express how awesome this is. These South Korean soccer fans make the American sports stadium tradition of "The Wave" look utterly pathetic in comparison. And high school kids, nonetheless! Via YouTube,
HowTo: Build Your Own DIY SuperMacro Lens
Via WonderHowTo World, Cinematography: Lozzless demonstrates how to make a diy cheap macro lens with working aperture for his Canon 5D Mark II, coined the "SuperMacro".
News: High Design Gets Trashy
What do these egg-carton lamps by American designer Victor Vetterlein have in common with Frankenstein's monster? More than you'd think! Both are green. Both have bolted necks. And both are assembled from materials most would be happy to let decompose.
News: Opening game in 3D. First impressions.
I've been curious to watch one of these famed '3D' games for a while now. Last April at NAB, I attended several 3D panels and folks from ESPN suggested that one of the strongest experiences that would bring 3D into the home would be live sports. I've missed opportunities to watch the PGA Masters broacasts, and NCAA games, but being a hardcore Soccer (Futbol) fan, I've been most excited about this possibility. It did not disappoint, but not without some concessions. I will be as detailed as po...
News: 8-Bit Your Desk
Well, you might need to take a few lessons in animation first. Another cool 8-Bit animation (previously, Evil Pixels Demolish New York City). This one is short and sweet. And especially beautiful.
News: It Ain't the Ball, It's the Altitude. Duhhh....
I guess it takes the designer to explain, but it's the altitude that's affecting the unpredictable movement on the ball, not the ball itself. Defending himself, he says the ball's been around since December and no one's complained until now. I know it's a problem in Jo'Burg and Nelspruit (highest venue in WC history). But Cape Town's at sea level, does anyone know if the problem exists there?
News: Pet Dragon Breathes 8-Foot Fireballs!
This year's fifth annual Maker Faire featured a fully articulated, fire-breathing animatronic dragon named Saphira (after the dragon from the book Eragon).
News: 50+ Illustrated Recipes (Make Cooking More Fun!)
Infographics are lots of fun, so how about illustrated recipes? Recipelook currently indexes 67 recipes and growing. There's a whole range in quality- a selection of my favorite drawings below.
News: Awesome LEGO Jewelry
If you haven't already discovered ETSY.com you really should check it out. It is basically an Ebay type website, but everything for sale has to be handmade.
News: The LEGO Party Jeep
Kevin Mathieu of California offers this interactive ART piece for rent at kids or adult parties. Based on a US Postal Jeep, this LEGO jeep is equipped with LEGO surfaces throughout its shape to stick LEGO's to. After writing a 40 page art proposal LEGO gave Kevin 600 lbs of LEGOs, but he is still looking for more. So if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area be on the lookout for the LEGO JEEP.
News: Future Cops - Hong Kong Street Fighter trailer
Ok, this is a dumb movie. It's really, really, really dumb. But it's one of my favorites precisely because it's so stupid.
News: Visual Thought Study by Sam Spreckley
Beautiful Eerie Cinematography and Fantastic Editing. This film by Sam Spreckley an artist out of Scotland. His experimental film shown above is quite abstract yet moving none the less.
News: Alexi Lubomski for Vogue Germany
As a fashion pedestrian, my exposure to high fashion art and understanding is limited, but this looks pretty hot. I love the diner scene lighting on her face.
News: Alexi Lubomski for Vogue Germany
As a fashion pedestrian, my exposure to high fashion art and understanding is limited, but this looks pretty hot. I love the diner scene lighting on her face.
News: Dirty Water
When you surf in Southern California, there are several challenges. The water's never warm enough, the crowds are always dense, shark sightings abundant and of course, water quality is perpetually terrible. With 15 million people living 'up-river' from our waves, it's no wonder the water is gross.
News: Canon 7D Sucks.
I bought a canon 7D and used it for an entire weekend. I noticed it dropped frames much more than my Canon 5D. There were many more aliasing problems with fine detail in the background. The camera is just plain awful in low light situations. Anything above 400 ISO I was getting too much noise to deal with. The only thing it was great at was taking lots of stills at a high rate of speed. This feature is great for certain types of sports photography. Overall I was very unhappy with the ...
News: Easy! Cell Phone Camera Macro Mod (5X Zoom)
Hack N Mod offers an incredibly simple cell phone camera mod that delivers striking results. All you need is a lens from an old DVD player and you can magnify your zoom by five times.
News: Up, Up & Away - Get Your Own Jet Pack for $75K
The age of personal flight has finally arrived. You can now purchase your very own jet pack for the extremely high price of $75,000. The Martin Aircraft Company Jetpack gets 30 miles to the tank, sails along at 60 mph, and can reach heights of almost 8,000 feet. Oh, and bonus: since it weighs less than 254 pounds, you won't need a pilot's license to operate. Previously, NASA's Wicked Cool Take on the Classic Jetpack.
How To: Get started with Genuine Fractals 5 Photoshop plugin
Get an overview of the award-winning Genuine Fractals 5 plug-in for Photoshop in this software tutorial. The Genuine Fractal 5 plugin allows you to enlarge digital images over 1000% without loosing quality. A must for anyone printing photos or other digital footage. If you are new to the Genuine Fractals 5 Photoshop plug-in, this tutorial is a great place to start. Get started with Genuine Fractals 5 Photoshop plugin.
How To: Fix scaling issues in After Effects
In part one of this two-part tutorial, Aharon Rabinowitz introduces you to Exponential scale, a keyframe assistant used to counter the issues that occur naturally in After Effects when scaling from very high values. In the second part, you'll learn how to ease the values of Exponential Scale to create a smooth end to your layer's scale animation. This is a better way to create easing in and easing out effects on animations. Fix scaling issues in After Effects - Part 1 of 2.
How To: Get the 2020 iPhone SE's Exclusive Wallpapers on Any Phone
The new iPhone SE packs the power of the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max inside the chassis of the iPhone 8. But that's not all that's new on the 2020 SE. Apple has also included six new wallpapers, exclusive to the Special Edition model, but the internet makes it tough to make anything truly exclusive anymore.
News: This One Chart Lays Out All the AR Companies You NEED to Know About
Super Ventures has published "The AR Landscape," a chart encompassing the major players and startups that are shaping augmented reality. Launched in February as the first incubator and fund focused on augmented reality, Super Ventures outlines companies working augmented reality applications, tools, devices, input/output methods, and components. The AR Landscape lists 312 companies, representing $12.1 billion in funding and $69.6 billion valuation. It runs the gamut from startups and innovato...
How To: 9 Surprisingly Toxic Foods
Tin cans have resin linings that contain bisphenol-A (BPA), which has been linked in animal lab testings to a number of ailments that include reproductive problems, heart disease, and obesity. Tomatoes are high in acidity, which means that the content of canned tomatoes eats away at the resin lining, which causes BPA to leach into what you eat. Long story short: avoid canned tomatoes at all costs.
How To: Make Your Own All-Natural Tick Repellent Spray
With tick-borne diseases on the rise, it is especially important to protect yourself from the prevalence of ticks in the outdoors, especially if you live in a high-risk region like New England, the mid-Atlantic states, and the upper Midwest.
How To: 7 Hard-to-Clean Areas in Your Home (& How to Clean Them)
How do you clean the blades of a ceiling fan without potentially hurting yourself? For an easy solution, simply use a stepladder and a pillowcase. Encase one blade of a ceiling fan with a clean pillowcase, and then pull the pillowcase towards you, which removes dust from the top of the blade and brings dust down into the pillowcase. Turn fan and repeat for every blade until the entire ceiling fan is clean.
How To: Why Wait? Get the Samsung Galaxy S6's Wallpapers Today
Coming out of a slump in 2014 (to put it nicely), Samsung has announced the release of their long-waited Galaxy S6 flagship for 2015. With the recent announcement and various photo leaks of the device, Android and Samsung enthusiasts are eager to get their hands on a system dump of the device itself.
How To: 21 Awesome Uses for Lint Rollers
Other than the expected task of removing lint from clothing, lint rollers are a great tool to have around the house for a wide variety of cleaning and non-cleaning uses.
How To: Download All the New Android Lollipop Wallpapers Right Now
The final preview build of Android Lollipop is out (which you can install right now if you have a Nexus 5 or 7), and it's a great look at what the official release will look like when it's out in early November.
How To: 7 Ways to Make Sure You're Staying Hydrated All Day Long
To optimize your day, chug down 16 ounces of water first thing in the morning. Your body is already dehydrated after a full night's sleep, and studies have shown that drinking water immediately after you wake up increases your metabolism by a significant amount for the first 90 minutes of the day.
How To: Remove Permanent Marker Stains from Any Surface
Contrary to its name, a permanent marker is not completely permanent if you really need to get it off a non-paper surface.
The Dried Beans Cheat Sheet: Soaking & Cooking Times for 15 Different Beans
While it may be tempting to rely on canned beans to save time, going through the process of preparing dried beans for cooking can actually be better for you in the long run—for both your physical and financial health.