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Insert Coin: Zcapture offers 360-degree photos of objects in 15 minutes (video)
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. Sure, crafting flawless 360-degree photos of objects can be a slog, but Jared Bouck's taken to Kickstarter betting that his solution can whip up such pictures and make them web-embeddable in as little as 15 minutes. Dubbed Zcapture, the hardware packs a rotating platform for items and cooperates with custom software to edit and produce the images without additional post-processing. As it stands, the gear works with cameras that boast external shutter controls (specifically Canon and Nikon models at the start), but stretch goals may bring support for other shooters, including IR header compatibility for point-and-shoots. With an Arduino at its core, and coupled with a circuit board packing additional ports and headers, the box is designed with modding in mind. In addition to snapping photos, Zcapture can even be used as a rotating base for 3D scanning. If you're wondering just what the system is capable of, just take a look at Bouck's work at Rotate 360 Studios, where he's made product shots for the likes of Foster Grant, Reebok, Xi3 and others. A USB-powered mini Zcapture along with the software is priced at $150 (or just $100 for the program), while other kits range from $300 to $690 for a fully-loaded version paired with soft box lighting. If the project meets its $46,000 funding goal, the contraption is expected to ship in December. With a little over $4,000 pledged so far, we hope -- if not for our review photos, for our eBay listings -- that it hits its goal before the two-month deadline.
Google Glass monthly update improves photos with HDR, captions
Google has committed to pushing software updates to its Glass headset each month, and a post on Google+ reveals this month's tweaks are focusing on pictures. If you're a fan of using the device for POV shots, it should take better pictures by capturing a sequence of images for improved low-light performance and HDR pictures in bright situations -- check out a gallery of enhanced images at the source link below. Also new is a prompt to add a caption after you take a picture. Users can tap their headset, speak the caption and it's automatically inserted. Last month's XE5 update addressed a wider range of issues, but this one will make sure any impromptu pictures (with your subject's full awareness and permission for the photo, we're sure) are high quality.
Flickr updates its website and Android app with a more eye-pleasing interface, we go hands-on
Flickr's one of the elder statesmen of the online photo sharing world, but in recent years its UI has grown a bit long in the tooth when compared to the eye candy provided by other kids on the social sharing block. That's all changed as of today, as Marissa Mayer's team has overhauled Flickr's look on the web and in its Android app. Out goes the old layout, where text and white space commanded almost as much real estate as your photos, and in comes a tiled layout that's nothing but images.%Gallery-188897% %Gallery-188899%
Daily iPhone App: French Girls is a strange idea that seems about to take off
Sometimes apps are expertly designed, very complicated machines, full of complex elements designed to take on tough tasks -- and sometimes they're just plain hilarious. French Girls is the second of these. It was developed in just 39 hours by a team of devs working on an app jam, and while there's not a lot to it (I wouldn't even call it a game, really), it is a lot of fun to see and play with. The title is a reference to the famous line from James Cameron's Titanic: "Draw me like one of your French girls," and that's exactly what the app is about. You're given a random picture from some other anonymous person on the internet, and your goal is to draw it with the provided colors, however you want, and then upload your drawing back to them. Once you've drawn a few people, you can then upload your own pictures, and within just a few minutes, you'll get new versions of your face or whatever else you upload back as a piece of original art (sometimes great, but usually very bad). The app feels very much like Draw Something did back before it got gobbled up by Zynga, in that it's just a fun and completely free celebration of being creative. As French Girls has gotten more and more popular over the past few days, I've seen more trolls pop up in it -- as far as I can tell, there's no one monitoring the drawings, so some pictures will come back with insults on them, or more objectionable images or language. But in general, the app is a lot of fun, both as you do your best to represent other people with your (either limited or great) art skills, and as you see pictures of yourself come rolling back in. Oh, and it contains the single greatest pull-to-refresh animation ever invented in the history of time. It's worth a download just for that. I doubt the team behind French Girls is ready to get grabbed up by Zynga anytime soon the way that Draw Something did, but I do feel there's more here to do -- maybe they can put in a quick picture moderation system, or add a small game layer in. You can already share your pictures via Twitter or Facebook, and there's even a nice web interface where you can look at all versions of a picture so far. The app itself is free -- there's not a lot to it, but, man, it makes me laugh every time to open it up and see what people have drawn next.
Take a gander at DDO's Update 17 screens
Players will be experiencing the new and improved Gianthold when Dungeons and Dragons Online releases Update 17 this month. Turbine's launched a new page dedicated to the update, and that page contains many, many pretty pictures that convey story and wonder in a digitized format. Check out 10 of these new screenshots in the gallery below, and while you're at it, why not read up on our recent tour of Update 17? %Gallery-178070%
Power Rangers Online holds open beta event
It's been quite some time since we last heard anything about the mighty Power Rangers Online, but apparently it's made significant progress since then. According to the game's site, Power Rangers Online is currently hosting an open beta event in Asia until January 2nd. Unfortunately, it's a little difficult to translate the page for more details, as it's one large graphic. Still, it looks as though there are product tie-ins and special rewards for those participating. [Thanks to Antonio for the tip!]
Free online tool creates images with adjustable depth of field from standard DSLR video
We've seen a couple of ways to change the depth of field (DOF) in pictures after they've been shot, but those methods have all featured specific hardware for the job. Knowing that most aren't inclined to fork over the notes for such luxuries, online auteurists The Choas Collective have released a free online tool for creating DOF-changeable images -- and all you need is a basic DSLR that shoots video. Instead of fancy in-camera tech that captures all the focal range data in one instance, their method requires you to shoot a short, steady video of the subject scene while you manually change the focus from one extreme to another. Upload the clip, and the Collective's neat tool cuts each frame into a 20 x 20 grid and works out what's in focus. The result is an embeddable image which allows you to play around with depth of field on the fly. We know you're probably eager to try this out right now, but before you go looking for your camera, head to the source link for full instructions and tips for shooting the clip. Alternatively, if you're sans DSLR, check out the example of a DOF-changeable image we've hidden below the fold.
Bungie confirms leak of story info, concept art for Destiny
An IGN reader has provided the site with a bundle of Destiny art and story materials that it says were compiled by an ad agency. Destiny is the long-rumored secret project that will serve as Bungie's followup to the Halo series. The art shows an Earth in a future "littered with the ruins of man's Golden Age," according to the materials, with a huge alien ship sitting above the planet. There are also shots of various soldiers and war vehicles, along with a more final logo similar to the one we've seen before.And now Bungie has added to the collection with its own official piece of concept art above. On the official Bungie blog, the company vaguely confirms the leaks, saying, "Go ahead. Take a peek. It's alright. We weren't quite ready, but we will be soon, and we can't wait to finally show you what we've really been up to."The leaked documents describe Destiny as "fun and accessible to all," and say the property's goal is "to create a universe as deep, tangible and relatable as that of the Star Wars franchise." That leaked contract between Bungie and publisher Activision about the project suggests that this title will involve four games, as many DLC releases, and stretch across the next console generation, so it's possible that this art reveals the very first step in what might be a long journey forward.
Instaturkey: Instagram hits all-time high, over 10 million pictures shared on #Thanksgiving Day
They say a picture is worth a thousand words -- and boy did Instragram's servers have a colossal amount of words to deal with yesterday. Via its blog, the Facebook-owned picture sharing service announced that, on Thanksgiving Day, more than 10 million holiday-related images were shared on the social network, which saw peak hour come in at around 12:00pm Pacific time with over 200 filter-packed (no filter, in some cases) images per second being Instagrammed. Moreover, Thanksgiving marked one of the app's most active days in its short history, with Instagram saying that yesterday "broke all records as we saw the number of shared photos more than double from the day before, making it our busiest day so far." Now bring on the #leftovers.
Vic Gundotra posts Nexus 10 photos to Google +
If anyone is going to get their hands on new Nexus hardware first, it's going to be Google top-brass. So when photos from Senior Vice President of Engineering, Vic Gundotra, show up on his Google + with "Nexus 10" in the details, we pay attention. The pictures show some idyllic scenes from the beach, but what we're all interested in is the EXIF data. So, 2,046 by 1,536 you say? That's 3-megapixel by our calculations, which may not be the true original resolution of the image of course. With a big Google event just around the corner, though, we imagine we won't have to wait long to find out more.
Core Online says hello to the world
We have a new MMO on the block, and its name is Core Online. Entwell introduced the fantasy title with a spiffy website that's unfortunately only in Korean at the moment. According to Steparu.com, Core Online's been in development for over three years. It boasts at least eight classes that fall in line with fantasy terminology, including the Magician and Warrior. Core Online will also offer a cross-server PvP battle system. We will wait and see how Core Online attempts to stand out in the extremely large crowd of gorgeous-looking Asian MMOs, but for now we'll have to be content to scope out the few screenshots below. %Gallery-167641%
The Instacube displays your Instagram pictures with class
Usually, I'm a little leery of not-yet-funded Kickstarter projects like this, but what the heck, it's Friday, and the Instacube seems pretty awesome. It's just a few thousand dollars away from being funded anyway, so the odds are pretty good that if you order one, you'll get it without a problem. And yes, it's a digital photo frame, designed especially to grab your great photography work on Instagram. You get to see the photos taken at full resolution, and the unit, once hooked up to your wifi, will even connect up to a few different Instagram feeds, so you can follow more than one set of pictures. Plus, the whole thing is encased in a pretty snazzy Instagram-inspired casing. Unfortunately, the $99 intro price is sold out, but you can still grab one for $149 (and the whole thing runs on Android, so there could be extra functionality later, too). Seems like a great way to show that growing collection of classic Instagram photos off in person.
Adobe Revel 1.5 released with new UI, text captions and auto-syncing albums
Adobe's cloud-based photo storage and editing app has been enjoying its new name since it hopped off the Carousel, and now it's appreciating a feature bump too. Version 1.5 has just hit the virtual shelves of the Mac and iTunes stores, complete with a new UI and the option to log in using Facebook or Google accounts. Functionality wise, the update adds text captioning for your snaps and the ability to create albums which auto-sync across your devices and can be shared with others via the web. Alright, so the update isn't revolutionizing the service, but we're sure those that currently subscribe are reveling in it.
Facebook for Android app updated with messaging emoji, easy event creation and a bit more
If you were wondering what features would be on the way after Facebook ditched pre-Froyo Android support for its app your questions have been answered. This revision lets users easily create events from their mobiles, share photos quicker and annoy their friends across platforms thanks to the kind of emoji iOS users have been annoying each other with for ages. In the screenshot above you see the new event creation pages and messaging screen where friends can toss in the icons or a picture while chatting privately, although updating to v1.9.8 will require a manual approval since it also seeks permission to obtain your location via coarse network-based methods. Assuming you're already down with Facebook's Open Graph-enabled tendrils snaking their way throughout your digital life (and, as an existing user already allowed it access to precise GPS-based location data) that's probably not too much of an issue, hit the Google Play link below to upgrade.
Adafruit builds Raspberry Pi-powered light painting rig, takes trippy photos
Taking long exposure photographs at night and painting within them using an iPad may be old hat, but building your own light painting rig? That could earn you some serious geek cred, and according to Adafruit, it isn't even all that hard. In a new walkthrough, the team fashioned such a contraption using a Raspberry Pi, a python script with under 60 lines of code, some open source software and a handful of electronic components. Not satisfied with the typical light wand, they decided to spice things up with a circular fixture built from PVC pipes and a hula hoop to hold the ribbon of LEDs. After being attached to a bike and paraded around at night, it created the 3D effect in the masterpiece above. If you're itching to make your own works of art, check out Adafruit's tutorial at the source link below.
NASA's Curiosity rover receives long-distance OTA update, 'brain transplant' on Mars
Think it's nifty when your carrier deigns to provide your smartphone with that long awaited OTA update? That's nothing. Over the weekend, NASA's Curiosity rover will be receiving its first long-distance OTA update -- all the way out there on Mars. The goal is to transition both redundant main computers from software suited for landing the vehicle to software optimized for surface exploration -- such as driving, obstacle avoidance and using the robotic arm. NASA calls it a "brain transplant" and points out that the software was actually uploaded during the flight from Earth. Now can someone please enable OTA downloads for the human brain? We'd really like to know kung fu. PR after the break.
NASA's Curiosity Mars landing successful, first pictures trickling in (video)
After "seven minutes of terror" involving guided entry, parachute and powered descent, and even a sky crane, NASA's Curiosity rover has successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. Better yet, the 2,000lbs (900kg) science lab has established communications with Earth and is sending back telemetry along with the first pictures of Gale crater. These initial grayscale images are only 256 x 256 pixels in size but show Curiosity's shadow on the Martian soil. Peek at our galley below and stay tuned for updates. Update: Hit the break to check out a video of all the "seven minutes of terror" highlights. %Gallery-161818%
Capcom and iam8bit remember 25 Years of Street Fighter with art gallery
Last night in iam8bit's Los Angeles headquarters, Capcom opened up its 25 Years of Street Fighter show, revealing a full gallery of artists' work featuring the now classic fighting game characters and settings. In a launch event open to the public, visitors got to see (and buy) the art on display, take pictures in front of a Street Fighter background, and even smash up a car pinata in a tribute to the games' Bonus Round mechanic. Gabe Swarr was one of the artists in attendance last night - his piece in the show, a comic from his Life in the Analog Age series, was a little more personal than all of the various representations of Chun Li, Ryu, and Blanka. In it, he portrays the change that Street Fighter brought to the arcades when it debuted, from sillier games featuring monkeys and spaceships to fire punches and spinning kicks. "Right when Street Fighter started there were two different crowds at that point," says Swarr, "and I wanted to remember that shift in the arcades." Swarr says that Street Fighter as a brand has lasted so long because its characters were so identifiable. Not only are these archetypal characters easy to connect to, but "it's also an international thing," he says. "It's one of the first games where they say this guy's from Brazil, this guy's from Japan and this guy's from the US. They did a really great job of incorporating that into the game." "You could tell that that was like the basis for all the fighting games afterwards," Swarr says. "This was the template that everyone followed." Capcom's 25 Years of Street Fighter show is running at iam8bit through August 19. You can see what's on display there in the gallery below.%Gallery-161786%
Gmail 1.3 for iOS now saves image attachments
The official Gmail app for iPhone recently got a nice update, and in addition to a few bugfixes and performance enhancements, users now have the ability to save picture attachments straight to their iPhone (or iPad's) camera reel. That's a nice feature -- it means that you can browse and save attachments more easily. I can imagine some nice use cases as well: You could grab an image from Gmail and put it right into a slideshow on your iPad, or send yourself some images from another computer, and insert them on to your iPhone or iPad's lock screen wallpaper easily. The Gmail app in general is a solid app to have. Though I usually use the Gmail web client in my browser when I'm at home, and Apple's own Mail app when I'm out and about, there are times when I'd just rather have an official Google experience when browsing mail. With this update and a few others lately (the last update added support for Notification Center), Gmail makes an even better case for owning a spot on your home screen. [via The Verge] #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Reuters cooks up remote camera rigs for 2012 Olympics, mounts them where humans can't tread
Sure, the 2012 Olympics may be gearing up for HD, 3D and even Super Hi-Vision broadcasts, but that doesn't mean still photography has lost its appeal. In fact, Reuters photographers Fabrizio Bensch and Pawel Kopczynski are taking Olympic photography to the next level, perching remote-controlled camera rigs in stadium rafters. The system, which the duo has been developing since 2009, can turn, adjust focus and receive commands wirelessly. Once stills are snapped, they're sent to an editing system and then off to distribution. The team is spending more than 12 hours a day installing the cams at different Olympic venues before the games kick off on July 27th. In the meantime, you can sprint to the source for photos of the setup.
