Edit on a Dime: Weekly Wrap-Up
It's been a Consumer Electronics Show bonanza at Edit on a Dime this week. Here's the stories we looked at over the last seven days.
It's been a Consumer Electronics Show bonanza at Edit on a Dime this week. Here's the stories we looked at over the last seven days.
Since the launch of Edit on a Dime several weeks ago, I’ve been putting a variety of automatic video editing apps though their paces. One of the first tested was Magisto, a web-based app that’s directly accessed through YouTube, which I enjoyed, but found some obvious problems with. Since then, I’ve been in contact with Oren Boiman, CEO and founder of Magisto, who was kind enough to address my concerns.
Even though the Kinect has been on the market for over a year, Microsoft's motion sensing device is far from old news. In fact, Microsoft announced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that the Kinect for Windows hardware and accompanying software is finally arriving at the start of February. There's even an Amazon page for it already.
It’s been a fun week here at Edit on a Dime, and not just because I drove around LA for an hour with an iPhone taped to the hood of my car for a review. Here’s what I was up to:
Increasingly, I'm turning to Google+ as a source of news, and it looks like I'm not the only one. On Thursday, news of a small earthquake broke on both Twitter and Google+. One curious user, +Keith Barrett, decided to try and find out which social network was faster with the news. Turns out it was a tie. As Google integrates Google+ more closely with the rest of its services, and more users post relevant stories, I think we'll start to see Google+ as a place that can create and break stories,...
It's almost time for the new Xbox 360 dashboard to invade gamers everywhere. Microsoft expects to update the Xbox Live user interface sometime next month, which is said to be the most significant update to the dashboard since the NXE update three years ago. This new Metro-based update is meant to bring a unified and distinctive look across all of Microsoft's consumer products and services, including Windows Phone 7, Windows 8 and Zune.
No Time To Explain is the first game by two man indie developer tiny Build Games. It's a fun and very stylish platformer in it's own right, available for $10 from the tiny Build website. Articles about the game on RockPaperShotgun, Destructoid, and other prominent PC sites helped it develop substantial hype and raise more than $26,000 via Kickstarter to fund development.
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been widely used by the military for surveillance and reconnaissance missions—even armed combat. But there are other beneficial applications of an unmanned aircraft, such as search and rescue operations, scientific exploration, locating mineral deposits, transporting goods and even filming bikini models. But drone development can be pretty pricey, unless you just happen to have a 3D printer...
Flying orbs. At first, you might think of the Tall Man and his army of flying sentinel spheres, equipped with zombie brains and a mini-arsenal of saw blades, drill bits and shooting lasers. But these flying orbs weren't conceived from the evil mind of a superhuman mortician—they were designed by Fumiyuki Sato, a researcher at the Japanese Defense Ministry's Technical Research and Development Institute—for something other than deadly deeds.
With so many wireless iOS networking apps for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch available, there’s very little reason to connect any of these devices to iTunes, except to update the software. Besides, importing and exporting photos using iTunes has never been one of the best features of Apple‘s mobile device process. Let me introduce you to 5 useful apps for importing and exporting photos to and from your iOS device(s).
There are plenty of cutting edge apps out there, and endless innovations in the field of 3D printing. But to combine the two—and make it available to the common consumer—is unprecedented.
As a kid, my favorite thing to do at the Natural History museum was a midday stop, when my family strolled past an antiquated looking vending machine in the museum's musty basement. The Mold-A-Rama machine was oddly shaped, George Jetson-esque, and spewed out made-to-order, brightly colored plastic dinosaurs. There was such joy in watching the liquid wax pour into the mold, and then eject a warm, custom toy—well worth the dollar or two demanded. A version of this tradition was recently elevat...
If you're considering getting the new Verizon iPhone, you may want to check out reliable teardown site iFixit. Although the exterior of the new phone may look the same as the old, the interior shows significant differences.
Think you're more green by going artificial? Think again. The New York Times reports that the most definitive study shows you would have to use your artificial tree for 20 years before it has less impact on the environment than a real tree.
Microsoft has finally released Windows Live Essentials 2011, their suite of consumer applications designed to compliment Windows and compete against Apple's iLife software. Windows Live Essentials 2011 is only available for Windows Vista and Windows 7 and can be downloaded from the Windows Live website.
The smokey eye has become one of the most popular makeup looks in recent decades. Worn by celebrities and the casual consumer alike, it is not only popular but is also one of the hardest looks to recreate. A few months ago, I was aske to create a simple, easy to follow tutorial for creating the smoky eye effect for Sorme Cosmetics. Taking the classic smokey eye, which consists of three shades of shadow, pencil and liquid liners, and mascara, and developing a quicker method for achieving the s...
This is probably the funniest video I've seen this year, they really don't hold anything back. Things you'll see in the video, based on real events:
Red Dead Redemption is hard to pin down in game play and story. The game offers this massive multi-layered world in which the player can roam freely, offering plenty of challenges, beautiful graphics and atmosphere for the player to experience. Yet after some point the whole world feels barren and unchangeable, and your achievements are nothing more than a trophy that does not matter in the sandbox world the player resides in. The story, told in three arcs, offers an inconsistent narrative of...
Sounds like an odd bragging right, but hold your horses, artist Hannes Langeder's handmade Porsche is pretty damn interesting.
DARPA and Dallas's Southern Methodist University are collaborating on a super high tech camera, capable of scanning eyeballs in a moving crowd.
Iowa firefighter Pete Lilja has modded the software of a Canon powershot to record images of Earth, from as high as 85,000 feet!
Name your price for 5 indie games!http://www.wolfire.com/humble This event will run for a week and the money raised will go towards two charities. The Humble Indie bundle is a collection of five indie games where you can set your price! Want to buy the whole package (worth $80 retail) for $10, $5, $1, or even a penny? sure, go ahead, you can pay as much or as little as you want. Some have payed over a hundred for the bundle, but the average is around $7-$8 dollars.The games:
Nissan said Thursday it will add automatic emergency braking (AEB) capabilities to one million models of its cars and trucks in the US by 2018. But the Japanese carmaker largely remains an exception among mainstream automakers by offering the system as standard.
Apple announced today at WWDC that Apple Maps is about to get a lot more detailed with its inclusion of floor plans of shopping malls and airports. This will be a welcomed feature to Maps as users will be able to quickly see which stores the malls have and how to get to them easily. The feature will also allow consumers to know exactly where their gates may be to get to their flights faster, or where to grab coffee. These maps will be created for cities such as Boston, New York Chicago, Hong ...
Microsoft's HoloLens project is shaping up to be the forerunner of augmented reality. With jaw-dropping features that would allow you to bring entire football games into your living room and control software with your eyes, there's plenty to be excited about with the upcoming AR headset. Up until now, HoloLens has been seen as potential vaporware, considering that the technology it brings to the table is so futuristic that some folks have thought it wouldn't be possible any time soon. But a r...
The second patent trial between Apple, Inc. and Samsung Electronics has effectively ended, with a jury ruling that Samsung did in fact infringe on two of Apple's patents. The reward of $119.6 billion is far lower than the $2.2 billion in damages that Apple seeked.
Stock prices be damned, HTC is ready to right the ship with it's soon-to-be-released follow up to the HTC One. The financially challenged device maker, according to inside sources, plans a March release for it's newest flagship.
As 2009 comes to a close, the Telegraph presents a compilation of this past year's wackiest inventions. As always, here at WonderHowTo, we are inspired and impressed by ingenuity. The contraptions below range from utter silliness (engagement ring bra) to downright amazing (see-through concrete). Check it out.
This holiday season, two lucky consumers will have the opportunity to purchase a robot twin, specially made by Japanese robotics firm Kokoro.
Need to find some directions? No problem, use Google Maps. Want to find some spy photos of yourself? No problem, use Google Street View.
Record stealthily, in the dark. This hack is simple and will turn any LED flashlight into an infrared night vision light you can use with any video camera.
Since the invention of the printing press, books have been a dominant and iconic paradigm in our culture and throughout the world. During my years in elementary and high school, the digital world was on the rise sparking the conversation: Are Books Obsolete. Over the last year (or 2 at the most) that the term "Book" has started to make the shift from a physical object to the concept of a written work.
Chilling on the beach and want some grub? If you're starving and can't afford to lose those sun rays walking around for some lunch, have the food come to you instead!
Everyone has deleted a file or folder on accident before. Sometimes people even delete stuff on purpose, only to find out that they needed the files after all. If you're experiencing one of these mishaps, don't worry, file recovery is possible in most cases!
ZUGZWANG n pl. -S a situation in chess that forces a disadvantageous move 81 points (31 points without the bingo)
BEJABERS interj bejesus (used as a mild oath) 69 points (19 points without the bingo)
EUCAINE n pl. -S an anesthetic 59 points (9 points without the bingo)
GUISARD n pl. -S a masker 59 points (9 points without the bingo)
APOLOGUE n pl. -S an allegory 61 points (11 points without the bingo)
PHONEYS 64 points (14 points without the bingo) Definition: to phony, i.e. alters so as to make appear genuine [v]