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Laowa's probe lens gives a bug's eye view, even underwater
Laowa, a brand known for its special photography lenses, is leveraging Kickstarter to launch its 24mm f/14 Probe Lens. The standard version comes with mount options for Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony FE, Pentax K, with the cine version compatible with either Arri PL and Canon EF.
ICYMI: Soon flying UAVs could pick stuff up; carry it away
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A large format hexacopter with mechanical gripper arms is all set to swoop in on your backyard and move some chairs around. Going by the Prodrone's YouTube video, it can carry 10 kilograms.
Canon's latest EOS M lens has a built-in ring flash
Canon's first EOS M may have landed with a thud, but things are getting much better for the mirrorless system. The company launched the excellent EOS M3 late last year, and just revealed a very interesting lens, the EF-M 28mm f/3.5 Macro IS STM. It's the first EF-M macro lens, and only the eighth native model in the family so far. What's more, the lens is has a very unique design with a dual "ring flash" attached to the end.
Adaptalux is a modular lighting system for macro photography
Every now and then, there are projects on Kickstarter designed for a niche group of people. Adaptalux is one of those: it's a modular, flexible and nearly pocket-sized lighting studio for macro photography and videography. The team behind Adaptalux claims that the system is capable of creating an infinite amount of illumination environments, thanks to an interchangeable design that users can customize based on their needs. For example, the Control Pod lets you choose the amount of light sources (up to five) and the color of them, as well as control the beam angle for each. And, much like the familiar gooseneck desk lamps, Adaptalux's lighting arms can be bent and twisted almost any way you want.
CCP to target EVE Online botters in 2015
Last week, CCP Games updated its policy on multiboxing and input automation within the spaceship sandbox EVE Online. Multiboxing -- that is, " playing as multiple separate characters, simultaneously, across a number of accounts, either by using multiple computers to run the game, or by using a number of instances of EVE on a single computer" -- will continue to be allowed, CCP wrote. But input animation is off the table. "Input Automation refers to actions that are commonly also referred to as botting or macroing," explains the studio. "This term is used to describe, but is not limited to, the automation of actions which have consequences in the EVE universe," including automated "activation and control of ships and modules, navigation and movement within the EVE universe, movement of assets and items within the EVE universe, [and] interaction with other characters." Botters caught violating the rule after January 1st will be punished with a temporary ban on the first offense and a permanent ban on the second.
Transformers Universe introduces Macro and Firebreaker
Jagex hopes to add "diversity" to Transformers Universe's character roster with the addition of two new warriors announced today: Macro and Firebreaker. Macro, in his warrior form, carries a heavy broadsword for up close melee combat which he wields like a chivalrous knight. In addition, his shield dome cloaks all allies within its boundaries, removing them from enemy line of sight for a limited time. At the other end of the spectrum, Firebreaker is the first Decepticon in Transformers Universe to feature cloaking capabilities. Sacrificing his shield meter he can extend the duration of the cloak, and can also unleash a computer virus on himself that will devastate the first Autobot he comes into contact with. The studio says over 700,000 players have participated in beta so far. Videos for both characters are embedded below.
The Mog Log: Making the most of Final Fantasy XIV macros
Final Fantasy XIV is not World of Warcraft. We are not in urgent need of an ability squish after years of play; you hit level 50 with a pretty reasonable number of abilities. The fact that everything needs to be workable on a PlayStation 3 controller helps discourage button bloat, to boot. But you still wind up with a lot of abilities to use in rapid conjunction and marks to place on various targets as a tank. You can run out of convenient space, in other words. That's one of the things that macros can help address, but it's not even close to the only thing. You can use your macros to make your rotation tighter, you can combine necessary abilities, you can mark targets, and you can even toss in a text line on every ability use. (But that does get kind of spam-heavy.) So let's look at some simple macros that will make your Final Fantasy XIV experience that much cleaner.
Blood Pact: A mini-grimoire of warlock macros
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill discusses macros for warlocks. As of writing, I'm far away from my stash of screenshots for my WeakAuras, so I won't have a post full of example strings for you quite yet. But the discussion of macros for warlocks came up on Twitter, and I can write a while about those while away on a wintery vacation.
A super-wide angle, telephoto and macro look at Schneider Optics' iLens Pro System
When it comes to accessory lenses for the iPhone, most people think of the wide variety of lenses made by Olloclip. There are a number of other manufacturers who are jumping into the iPhone lens world, making everything from cheap $10 clip-ons to the $229 iLens Pro lens kit from Schneider Optics I'm reviewing today. The iPro Lens System consists of a macro lens, a super wide angle lens, and a 2X telephoto. Keeping the lenses safe during travel is a three-segment case that also serves as a handy grip tripod for taking photos or video. Your iPhone 5/5s slides into a case with a tiny bayonet mount onto which the lenses are placed. As you can see from the photos in the gallery, the super wide angle lens really does give you a lot more coverage. As with most lenses of this type, however, you will see a lot of barrel distortion around the edges of the image. My suggestion for taking wide-angle photos? Just use the built-in pano function of your basic iPhone camera, or even better, use an app like Sphere to capture a 360 degree spherical image of your location. The 2X telephoto lens is really quite good. I was really happy with the close-in photography I was able to accomplish, and the lens seems fairly fast as the images are beautifully bright. As for the macro lens, I was pretty impressed. Although the image the lens didn't produce the extreme magnification possible with the Olloclip 3-in-1 Macro Lens Kit, it was quite accurate and distortion-free across the frame of the picture with just a small amount of pincushioning. In other words, it's perfect for those closeups that don't need a huge amount of magnification. I like the grip/case, as it provides a sturdy, comfortable knurled grip to hold onto. There are two non-standard tripod screw mounts on the case, each of which connect to a screw on the top end of the case. Now the big question -- is this lens kit really worth $229? To be honest with you, I'm not sure I see that much of an advantage of this kit over the $170 combination of the Olloclip 3-in-1 ($70) and Telephoto with circular polarizing lens ($100). Both offer a similar range of lenses, however the Olloclip simply slides onto a "naked" iPhone, and doesn't require a special case. On the other hand, the iPro Lens Kit offers a much more convenient case for the lenses that doubles as a hand grip, the lenses seem to be a bit faster than those provided by Olloclip, and the distortion levels are a bit lower. Whatever lens kit you end up with, realize that all things considered, you're still shooting photographs with a mobile phone. A set of lenses attached to an iPhone is no match for a DSLR; realize that, and you'll probably be quite happy with whatever you select for your photographic endeavors.
Olloclip debuts Macro 3-in-1 lens for iPhone and iPod touch (hands-on)
It's been a tremendous two years for Olloclip. The company's premier product, a three-in-one lens that packages macro, wide-angle and fisheye lenses in one nifty iPhone attachment, was our very first Insert Coin project in May of 2011. One successful Kickstarter campaign later, and the lens trio was on its way to production. Now, you can find Olloclips in every Apple Store in the world, along with big-box retailers like Best Buy and Target. Today, there's a very cool addition joining the iPhone and iPod touch-friendly lineup: a three-in-one macro lens that enables 7x, 14x and 21x magnification. We spent a few minutes with the new optic paired with an iPhone 5s (pictured above) -- dare we say, this is the best option for macro photography on a smartphone that we've ever seen. The results were sharp and bright, and the bundled Instafocus diffuser hoods pull double duty as "training wheels," letting you calculate the appropriate focus distance with ease. You can also use the lenses without the hoods, but we definitely preferred the results with the lightweight plastic cones attached. When shooting text on the screen of a Moto X, the iPhone picked up quite a bit of pincushion distortion. Fortunately, the bundled app has an easy fix, and after a few seconds of tapping, each shot was Instagram-ready. The new Olloclip is compatible with iPhone 5/5s and the 5th-generation iPod touch. It's available today for $70 at the source link, along with Apple Stores and other retailers. Check it out in our hands-on shots and sample images in the galleries below.
Quickly add new Tweetbot mute keyword using Keyboard Maestro
I love me some Twitter, but I find that some days the internet is talking about something I just don't care about. That's where "mute filters"' come in. Tweetbot lets you mute words or phrases and will hide subsequent tweets that match your filter. The problem is that adding a new "mute keyword" to Tweetbot requires way too many steps. Switch to the "Mutes" tab Click "Edit" Click "+" Click "Mute Keyword" Click inside the Keyword field because, for some frustrating reason, Tweetbot doesn't put the cursor there automatically. Click "Save" Click "Done" Go back to the main timeline Eight is way more than enough, it's about seven too many. Here's what I want: Press a key combination, type a word / phrase, press enter. Boom. Done. Wait! Too many, annoying, repetitive steps!? Automate it! As I've said repeatedly, once you get into the "automation mindset" you'll start to find uses for it all over the place. This is yet another example. Keyboard Maestro is one of my favorite tools for this on the Mac, specifically because it can do so many of these things, and making a new macro is easy. However, since this does not need to be a "global" macro (that is, it doesn't need to work anywhere, anytime, it just needs to work when I'm using Tweetbot) my first step was to make a new "group" in Keyboard Maestro by choosing the "File » New Macro Group" menu. I named it "Tweetbot" because I am wildly creative. Then I told Keyboard Maestro that any macros in this new group should only be available in one application. The red arrows in the image below point to the Macro Group and the setting to show that it is only active in Tweetbot, and the yellow arrows point to the list of macros in that group. Right now there is only one, but if I ever want to make any more that are only for Tweetbot, I just have to drag them into that folder. This is important because it allows me to define a keyboard shortcut in Keyboard Maestro which will only be used when I am in Tweetbot. Now I don't have to worry about it being accidentally triggered in other applications. I chose ⌘ + = because it seems like a good "Add" shortcut, and it was not already in use in Tweetbot. Now let's make the macro Here are the steps the macro will take once I press ⌘ + =: Prompt user for word/phrase to add to Tweetbot mute filter. (See "Screenshot #1" below.) Select the "Mutes" item from the "Window" menu Click the "Edit" button Click the mouse on the "+" button (see the red arrow on "Screenshot #2" image below) Press "Enter" to select 'Mute Keyword (see the blue arrow on "Screenshot #2" image below) Press Tab twice to get into the proper field to add the keyword(s) to be filtered Paste the text that the user entered (see Important Note below) Click "Save" button Click "Done" button Pause for 1.5 seconds to that I can see the new filter has been created Go back to my Timeline (which is probably where I was reading when I decided I needed to mute something Screenshots Keyboard Maestro comes with an item to "prompt user for input" and allows you to easily customize it. Here's what mine looks like: Screenshot #1 Note that this is the very first step in the macro. I could have scripted this differently. For example, I could have created a macro that did the first six steps and then waited for me to enter the mute keyword(s) and then continued. I chose not to do that for several reasons: By prompting the user for input immediately, we give the user a chance to cancel the macro, in case s/he triggered it accidentally or changed his/her mind about it. The user will not have any delay between triggering the macro and being asked for input, so there's less of a chance for them to forget what it was they wanted to mute. The user will still be looking at whatever screen they were at when they decided to add to the mute keyword(s) list. This is particularly helpful if I need to verify the spelling of something. The only "tricky" part is this: Screenshot #2 The "Done" button on the top-right corner changed from "Edit" after we clicked that button. I tried telling Keyboard Maestro to click the "+" button, but that did not seem to work reliably, so instead I told it to click at a certain number of pixels relative to the top-left corner if the front window. (You can calculate the pixel count using xScope or by trial and error.) Once the "+" button has been clicked (red arrow) and then we need to select "Mute Keyword" (blue arrow). The good news is that once we have done the mouse click on the "+" button, the "Mute Keyword" entry will be highlighted, so all we need to do is simulate pressing the Enter key after the "+" button has been pressed. Important Note When you mute a keyword, Tweetbot will let you 1) mute mentions, and 2) set how long you want the mute to be active (one day, one week, one month, forever). I do not adjust these settings in this macro, which (at least for me) appears to mean that mentions will not be muted and that the filter will be in place forever, which is what I want. I'm not sure if Tweetbot changes those settings based on your previous settings or not. If you want something different, you can change those settings using Keyboard Maestro too. Doing so is left as an exercise to the reader. Why Tweetbot? I've always been a big fan of Twitterrific but it doesn't have muting on the desktop yet, so I'm using Tweetbot, which is quite nice. You should be able to adapt this process to any Twitter client. One thing I really like about Tweetbot is that these filters sync between the Mac and iOS client, so you don't have to maintain multiple filter lists. Download my macro If you'd like to download my Keyboard Maestro macro you can find it on Github.
Using Keyboard Maestro 6 to automate a web database
One of my favorite new features in Keyboard Maestro 6 is the ability to click on links in web pages using either Safari or Google Chrome. This new feature let me make an old macro (which was based around trying to click in the right place) a lot more efficient. I'm going to show you how I set this up. Although you probably won't be using this same web database system, chances are good that you could encounter something similar to it. My hope is that this will help people who are unfamiliar with Keyboard Maestro (or macro programs in general) understand how they might use automation to help make their computing lives a little easier. "What can't be automated?" Every week I log into EBSCO, a web database of journal articles. I put in my search terms or follow links from TextWeek - another site which has indexed articles by topic and links to EBSCO. That takes me to a summary page for the journal article which gives me publication information. I go through the results and find the articles that I want to read. There is no practical way to (usefully) automate that. I could probably find some way of fetching all of the results for a specific topic, but that wouldn't really be very useful. It's not exactly the stuff of summer blockbuster movies, but I rather enjoy it. The automation part kicks in when I actually find something that I want to read. Automate the tedious stuff Once I find an article I want to read later I have two options: I can click through and read the PDF through the site itself. This is invariably a lousy experience. The PDF ends up being loaded into one part of the screen, surrounded on three sides by parts of the website interface. I can save the PDF to my Downloads and/or open it in Preview, but it's all very clumsy and inefficient, as anyone who has used any sort of web database like this can attest. I can email the PDF to myself. In fact, I can email the PDF to myself and get a copy of the bibliographic information including a link back to the original in case I ever need to find it again. That's much nicer. Well, at least, theoretically. In practice, it's still fairly clumsy and inefficient. I have to click the "E-mail" link on the side of the page, as shown in the image below: There's no keyboard shortcut for that link, of course, which means I have to use the mouse. Or do I? Actually, with Keyboard Maestro 6 I can assign a keyboard shortcut to clicking links, and so I have set ⌘ + Y ("Y" as in "Y"es I want to read this article, but also because the key combination wasn't in use by Safari). When I press ⌘ + Y, Keyboard Maestro will click that link for me. But we're just getting started. Clicking that "E-mail" link doesn't actually email the PDF to me. In fact, all it does it open another AJAX/JavaScript pseudo-window with several additional fields: my email address. Yes, every time. No, it never remembers it, no matter how many times I've typed it in before. A Subject: line for the email. You might think that the title of the article I am reading would be automatically filled into the Subject: field, but you would be mistaken. A checkbox for sending the bibliographic information in plain text instead of HTML. You have probably already guessed that I'm not filling all of that in by hand, so you're probably expecting that I'm going to create another macro, right? Wrong! I don't need another macro, I can still use the one I've already created. Macro Step 1: "Click 'E-Mail' link" Macro Step 2: "Wait until 'Send' button appears (in that JavaScript/AJAX pseudo-window). Macro Step 3: When that button appears, press Tab twice to get to the "Email to" field. Macro Step 4: Fill in my email address (remember this part later) Macro Step 5: Press Tab again and enter the Title of the Safari window (which Keyboard Maestro can easily do) into the Subject: field Macro Step 6: Press Tab two more times which will put me on the checkbox for 'Send in plain text format' Macro Step 7: press Space to toggle the checkbox Which gives me something like this: Let's look at those steps again. Are any of them difficult? No. But how many times would I accidentally make a typo in my email address? Or tedious would it be to keep copying and pasting the Title: into the Subject: field versus the 0.01 seconds it takes the computer to do it automatically? How many times would I accidentally paste the Subject: into the 'Comments' box? Or forget to check the 'Plain Text" box? Macro Step 8: click that "Send" button Now we're done, right? Aha, you're catching on. We're not quite done. After the email is sent, there's a confirmation window: Macro Step 9: Pause until the "Continue" button appears, then press it. Now here's another little detail: sometimes I will open a bunch of tabs, and each tab is a different article, so when I am done, I want to close the tab because there is nothing more to do with it. However, other times I will click through from the search results and the article loads in that same page. If I close the tab there I will lose my search results and have to go back and start over again. Fortunately, there is an easy solution. Macro Step 10: If Safari's menu option "History » Back" is enabled, select that menu option and take me back to the search results, but if that menu option is not enabled it means that this article was opened in its own tab. Keyboard Maestro can do this easily. Just fill in the blanks: How many times would I accidentally choose the wrong one? Knowing myself, a lot. Sure, it should be possible to just re-open the last tab, but it doesn't always work that way, especially when working with database queries. If I was to do each of those steps myself, it would take about 20 seconds for each page, assuming that I never made a mistake. (Even that is cheating because I have a TextExpander macro for my email address.) It takes Keyboard Maestro between 2–3, and most of that time is actually waiting for the server-side actions to happen. This morning I found 15 articles that I wanted to read: 20 seconds times 15 articles is about 5 minutes. To me there's a bigger factor than the time saved: the convenience. Having this process take just a few seconds instead of a few minutes means that I can keep my focus on what I am doing. That means more attention on the parts of the process that can't be automated: the searching and the reading. More time and energy to do the parts of the task that I want to do and enjoy, and less time and energy spent on the boring parts that the computer does faster and more precisely anyway. One more thing... Maybe two... Remember "Macro Step 4: Fill in my email address"? There's actually a 'trick' to that part too. Because I'm having the computer do the typing anyway, I actually have it send each article to two email addresses (separated by semi-colons, not commas... Why? You'd have to ask EBSCO). The first is my regular Gmail address where the article gets filtered away "just in case." The second email address is a SendToDropbox.com address which I specifically use for these kinds of articles. I don't know what kind of black magic they are using over there at SendToDropbox, but by the time I have closed the tab or gone back to the previous page in Safari, Dropbox is already downloading the files that I have emailed to myself. SendToDropbox can automatically sort the files by date (which is handy since that will, effectively, group them by topic for me since I generally search for one topic per day). Of course I can't stop there, so I have Hazel at that folder which does some even nerdier things to the files that SendToDropbox creates. The point isn't to do what I have done... As I said at the beginning, chances are you don't use the same database to lookup journal articles... But what do you do on a regular basis that could be automated? Are there parts of something that you do over and over again that you find really tedious that the computer could do for you? These automation tools – Keyboard Maestro, Hazel, TextExpander – won't make you think that you are living with The Jetsons, but they can smooth out rough edges in your computing life, making it less frustrating and more enjoyable. That's why automation continues to be a big focus for me as I look for the "little things" that add up to a better experience using my Mac.
Speed up your gameplay with key bindings and macros
While many tout using the mouse for speedy gameplay, you can't overlook the power of the keyboard. While moving and turning is most quickly done with a mouse, it's a slow way to activate spells or open menus, so if you want to speed up your game, it's a good idea to learn WoW's default keyboard shortcuts as well as how to make your own key bindings and macros. We'll cover the basics and help you get started. WoW's keyboard shortcuts You may be surprised to see how much you can control with your keyboard. The first step to keyboard mastery is by opening up WoW's key binding interface. Just hit your escape key to open up the game menu and then select Key Bindings. Now, we aren't going to mention every key binding in WoW here, because as you scroll through this menu you'll see there are a lot of them.
Mad Genius' Motion Capture System brings Sony's break-apart controller idea to life, and then some
Remember that break-apart DualShock 3 idea for motion control Sony had five years ago? A new company named Mad Genius Controllers has surfaced with a working prototype that shows such a contraption working in spades. The setup uses a splittable controller and a processing unit to enable seamless motion control and spacial tracking on any title and system. Because Mad Genius doesn't use any accelerometers or cameras like the current consoles, its creator notes that accuracy of up to 1/100th of an inch is possible. In a video demo with an Xbox 360 version of Skyrim and a modified Xbox gamepad, certain gestures and movements even automate menu selections like a macro. One instance shows the controller being split and held like bow and arrow, highlighting that both sides are tracked in relation to each other -- not to mention that the in-game character's weapon automatically changes without any menu-digging by the user. The current version is merely a wired proof-of-concept, but Mad Genius plans to eventually make it wireless and hit Kickstarter for funding. In the meantime, you can build up anticipation for yourself by checking out the nearly 10-minute long video demo after the break. All that's left is the inevitable Oculus Rift tie-in (like we've just done with this post).
iPhone, macro lens take beautiful snowflake photos
Sometimes photography is all about capturing the moment quickly and not the expensive camera equipment you tote around in your bag. Wired has an excellent story about Ben Woodworth, who used an iPhone 5 and a $5 macro lens attachment to capture a series of stunning snowflake portraits. He locked the focus on his iPhone and steadied it by leaning on a backpack before he snapped the photos. You can see one example shot above and hop over to Wired to see the rest.
Insert Coin: Emukey EK1 runs mouse, keyboard macros purely from hardware (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. Software testers don't have it easy these days. While it's been possible for ages to record keyboard and mouse commands as macros, quality assurance teams sometimes can't have any tracking software running -- a real pain when trying to recreate a bug in an online RPG or other input-heavy apps. Emukey's proposed EK1 box could save testers from manual troubleshooting by running those macros from hardware. By taking scripts pushed out from a host Windows PC, the EK1 can run pre-recorded keyboard and mouse instructions on a slave PC without any software interference. The script-based approach makes it easy to reproduce a glitch on other machines by sharing files, and the use of PS/2 peripherals (with USB adapters if needed) prevents lag from skewing the results.
Enter at Your Own Rift: Macro this!
You know that saying about never discussing religion or politics around the dinner table? I'd like to add one more to the list: RIFT macros. Some players love them, and some players hate them, to the point that the topic completely turns them off from the game. Each camp has some very valid arguments, and there doesn't seem to be too much of a middle ground on the subject. In this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, I'd like to take a look at that polarizing issue and explain why I grew to love macros.
Mobi-Lens clip-on lenses deserve your Kickstarter love
OK, TUAW readers. It's time to once again prove that Kickstarter works to get some really cool projects off the ground. In this case, it's an accessory lens setup for mobile devices. Yeah, we've seen them before -- but they're usually set up with some sort of case that only works with one kind of device. You buy one for an iPhone 4S, for example, and when Apple comes out with a new iPhone, suddenly the case doesn't fit anymore. The Mobi-Lens is designed to let you buy one kit and use it on any number of generations of electronic devices with cameras. The Mobi-Lens project accomplishes this with a deceptively simple design. It's a clip-on lens that reminds me of an old-fashioned clothespin, except one that's been updated in bright colored plastic and given a lens implant. More correctly, multiple lens implants -- inventors Aris and Evette Allahverdian are proposing a 2-in-1 wide-angle / macro lens as well as a fisheye lens version. What's awesome about this is that you can use the Mobi-Lens with just about any existing or future device with a camera. Want to use it on your iPad? Clip it on. Use it with your iPhone 4S? Clip it on. That sorry brother-in-law of yours who has an Android phone? Yeah, he can borrow the Mobi-Lens from you, but I'd keep an eye on him because you'll probably never get it back. Want a wide-angle view from the camera on your MacBook Air? Yeah, you can do that too. At this point, however, the Mobi-Lens might just be an über-compatible mobile phone photographer's dream, because the project is woefully underfunded at this point. With about 35 days to go, the project is at only about $2,900 of the $34,000 needed to start production. You can back the project and get one of the clip-on lenses for as little as $30, although higher support levels open up exclusive colors and the fisheye clip-on. My wish is that Aris and Evette get more than their minimum funding amount and look into a telephoto lens version as well. There are a lot of ways to get wide-angle and macro lenses (see the Phocus as an example), but nobody seems to be looking at the telephoto or zoom end of the business -- which is why I still use a "real camera" for a lot of photography. Give me the option of a telephoto that I can clip onto my 18-megapixel iPhone 6 and I may seriously consider using it as my sole camera. Interested? Here's the video pitch from Aris and Evette: #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Focus and Macros: The key skills you need for PvP
WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of Battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who focuses on making with the stabby and turning people into frogs. Focus in PvP can have a few meanings. If you're tired, or a bit stressed out, it's something you can lose. Trust me on that! Your focus can also be the target you pick to burst down or of course your main objective -- and lastly and principally for this column, focus is a secondary target. A secondary target? Didn't you just say it was the target you pick to burst down? Well, I may be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here, so bear with me. We all know how to select a target, I assume, but you can also have another target set in addition to your main target. Depending on your UI setup, this will appear in various places on your screen. Some UIs and addons are more customizable than others with regard to a focus target, and for all the screenshots in this post, I use a tailor-made edit of TukUI. So a focus target is another target? Yup. Why would you need another target? Well, we'll get to that! Patience, young padawan. One basic use for focus includes doing Battlegrounds with friends. As long as you have the map set up to allow it, your map displays your focus target with a thick ring highlighting their position. If you head into a Battleground with a buddy, you might want to set them as a focus so you can see where they are and help them out!
Customize your guild bank icons with this handy script
Have you ever wanted to customize your guild bank icons but been daunted by the sheer number of icons to choose from? The default interface for picking icons isn't very easy to navigate. There are hundreds of icons, and they're not searchable or sortable. Trying to find the icon you're looking for is like finding a needle in a haystack. In fact, not every icon in the game is even listed in the default interface! There's a better way to assign icons to your guild bank tabs. With a simple script command, you can assign any icon that's in the game to any one of your tabs. The first step is to identify the icon you want to use. Wowhead is your best bet here, as it's got the icon files for every spell, item, and achievement in the game. Find the ability that shares the icon you want to use, and then click on the icon image to grab the specific icon identification string, like "spell_nature_bloodlust" for Bloodlust.
