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Dropbox Automator triggers monotonous tasks with the uploading of a file
There are plenty of tools and apps out there that automate the essential computing tasks that face us every day. Some are time consuming others are simply monotonous -- but they must be done. Dropbox Automator combines time-saving task mastery with perhaps our favorite cloud storage solution. The service watches a designated folder for uploads, when a new file is added an action is triggered -- everything from converting documents, to resizing an image or tweeting a link. And that's just scratching the surface. There are already plenty of automation scripts in the fledgling service's repertoire and devs can add there own by creating a SOAP webservice. Hit up the source link to get started now.
David Attenborough to produce Galapagos islands documentary for Sky 3D, be really British
A living British treasure makes a 3D documentary that much better. On Thursday, the Sky television network announced that Sir David Attenborough will be embarking on his fourth 3D project with Sky, a three-part natural history series centering on the Galapagos islands. Galapagos 3D, which is set to air on Sky 3D in late 2012, will be written and presented by Attenborough and follows several successful collaborations between Sky and Atlantic Productions, including the BAFTA-winning Flying Monsters 3D, The Bachelor King 3D (which airs on New Year's Eve) and Kingdom of Plants 3D, a series based at Kew Gardens (due to air on Sky 3D next year). The series will include both micro and macro filming on location as well 3D visual effects which discuss both the Galapagos islands and the forces that helped shape them. In other news, David Attenborough really likes hanging around thousands of sea birds, and if there's a windbreaker he can wear while doing it, then he's set.
Nokia's latest EDoF camera demonstrates improvement with macro shots
Nokia's second generation Extended Depth of Field (EDoF) camera was recently put through the wringer by the folks at All About Symbian, and for a technology that traditionally fails at macro shots, we're happy to see that the engineers in Espoo have made dramatic advances with this second go-around. Using the same lens and sensor as before, we're told the improvements come from a refined image processor alone. In a side-by-side comparison, this business was card snapped from 12-inches (30cm) away, first with a C7 and then a 701. While the new setup isn't perfect, the difference is certainly appreciable. Of course, Nokia has all but ditched EDoF in its high end smartphones -- as evidenced by our reviews of the N9 and Lumia 800 -- but the technology remains very much alive within its lower-end affairs, and really, who doesn't like to see improvement? For a complete breakdown of the new technology, be sure to hit up the source link below.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Patch 4.0.3 changes
Last week, Runes of Magic's latest patch brought Knight skill balancing, saw the return of the Juice Festival, and tried to remove some macro functions. All in all, it wasn't a huge patch, but it was enough to light up the RoM forum with a lot of chatter. As it turns out, many vocal players were saddened to see the removal of macro functions that gave them an incredible amount of flexibility. The abilities given to players to make scripts, macros and addons with amazing freedom have been among RoM's strong points, but they also allowed so much freedom that they skirted the boundary between "helpful addon" and "botting." The proposed macro change may be one of the fastest retractions Frogster has ever had to make, but there's also the balancing that Knights received and the Juice Festival to talk about in this week's Lost Pages of Taborea. Grab your favorite juice and meet me after the break.
Lichborne: 3 quick tips to step up your death knight's game
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. So you know your rotations. You know your gear priorities. You know what to reforge, which buttons to hit, and how to stay out of the fire. These are all good things. Yet still, you feel like you're missing something. Maybe you feel like you could crank out another 1-2k DPS on some fights. Maybe you feel like your health keeps dropping a little low when you tank. Sometimes, the problem with problems like these is that it's not a big glaring thing you're forgetting (nor is it forgetting to drop your favorite lucky vanity item). Sometimes, it's just that you need to tighten up your play just a little bit. This week, we're going to take a look at a few simple tricks that hopefully a lot of you can use just to shore up your play and go the extra mile.
Photojojo phone lenses give your iPhone a new set of eyes
I've been a fan of Photojojo for a while. The site sells all sorts of fun and useful camera gear and gifts, things like an SLR Bokeh kit or a inexpensive point-and-shoot tilt-shift digital camera. When they offered to let TUAW try out a set of three phone lenses that give iPhone shooters a choice of different widths of field, I jumped on the chance. Here's how Photojojo's little lenses work on your iPhone for fun photography. There are three lenses available -- one is a 2X telephoto, one is a 180° field-of-view fisheye lens, and the last is a wide angle/macro lens that helps to take those group photos and close-ups of bugs. The fisheye sells for US$25, the two other lenses for $20 each, or you can get the entire set for just $49. Now we all know that our iPhones don't have a little bayonet mount for lenses, so how do these lenses actually mount on your iPhone? Easy -- there's a minuscule metal ring with sticky backing that you put around the rear camera lens on the iPhone (or iPad). Here's where a problem arises. If you have an iPhone 4, the ring gets glued right over the flash! That's not an issue for me since I rarely take flash photos, but for many people that could be a deal killer. On the plus side, the ring is thin enough that I was able to continue using my Mophie Juice Pack Air case, although I have to remove the top of the case to take photos. There are two of those magnetic rings included with each lens, as well as a pair of tiny lens caps to keep both ends of the lenses clean when not in use. Now the moment of truth! Braving an oncoming storm, I grabbed the iPhone 4 and lenses for a photo session. These photos aren't great, as the rain started coming down the moment I stepped out the door, but they'll give you an idea of what each of the lenses accomplishes. First, let's look at a picture of my boring back yard with the standard iPhone 4 camera: Next, I grabbed the fisheye lens. As you can see, there's a very wide field of view (180°) but a lot of distortion. I think this would be incredibly fun when shooting video with the iPhone 4: Stepping back a bit from the distortion of the fisheye lens, I put the wide angle lens onto the iPhone 4 mount: You can see that the wooden post on the left side of the photo above is distorted a bit, but that you can see a lot more of the back yard than is visible in the "normal" photo. There's also a small amount of vignetting visible in the corners of the image, which of course could be cropped out using one of the many photo editing apps for iOS. Finally, I put the 2X telephoto lens onto the iPhone 4: Notice that the field of view is smaller, and that the cottonwood tree at the left appears to be much larger than it is in the other images. If you screw off the top of the wide angle lens, it becomes a macro lens that lets you focus quite closely: When viewed at the full resolution of the iPhone 4 image, this picture was incredible, with every tiny scratch on Jefferson's face clearly visible. As you can see, these inexpensive lenses don't rival the picture clarity that you'd get with a true DSLR lens, but you're paying less for all of them than a DSLR lens cap would probably cost you. And your iPhone 4 is not a single-lens reflex camera; it's a point and shoot with a fixed focus and rolling shutter. A $49 set of lenses is not going to turn your iPhone into a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III DSLR. But if you want to do more than take snaps with your iPhone 4, the Photojojo lenses are a fun way to experiment without spending too much money.
Addon Spotlight: Making the most of macros with MacroBank
Each week, WoW Insider's Mathew McCurley brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. Macros recently got a small but important save feature in the default UI, as well as the ability to keep the macro window open with other windows to facilitate easier macro creation across the board. These were quality-of-life changes that made an already robust macro system a bit easier to navigate. Macros in World of Warcraft are powerful tools that can up your game significantly, and the right macro combination can turn one action button into a powerhouse. One of the more difficult aspects of macros is sharing them. Going to a website, copy-pasting the macro you need, and working through the system is not the ideal way to send macros from one person to another. Categorizing your macros has been a pain since the inception of the macro window, since the only real category options are character-specific macros and general macros. There has to be a better way! This week, we're talking macros with MacroBank, an addon that gives players more options on the macro UI and gives players a crucial tool in macro sharing. Hopefully, with increased proliferation of MacroBank, we can get the ability to share macros with each other as a default feature in game.
Pantech Crossover review
Time to ditch the pull-ups, because Pantech's a big kid now. It's hard to fathom that the company responsible for hits like the Zoolander-ish C300, Helio Ocean and dual-sliding Duo is only now -- after five long years -- taking a chance at the Android market in the US. Certainly its long-time partnership with AT&T is finally looking to pay off in a big way, as the network introduces the appropriately-named Crossover. The carrier's been starving for a decent physical QWERTY to add to its (fortunately) blooming Android lineup, so seeing Pantech step up to the plate and fill the void should come as a huge relief. Though it's serving up monoliths in Korea that feature 1.5GHz dual-core processors and other outlandish specs, Pantech looks to be starting its stateside tour with a less-risky investment: at $70 with a 2-year agreement, its modest first impression appears targeted toward first-time smartphone buyers. Is it worth dropping a Grant and a Jackson to adopt the Pantech Crossover for the next two years? Read on to find out.
Gold Capped: Cataclysm glyph addons
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house. Email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! The glyph market has spawned quite a few of the important modern auction house addons. It's a uniquely challenging market, as there are hundreds of different products, each with their own balance of suppliers, buyers, and materials. The challenges faced by early glyph producers were met by a hodgepodge of fairly complex addons and macros, and only recently have unified solutions began to appear. I remember that at one point, I had addons to: Keep track of how many glyphs I had on the AH, in various characters' banks and in their inventories. Allow me to queue a list of glyphs and build a materials list (that allowed me to buy the vendor mats with one click). Automatically queue enough glyphs in the second addon to assure that I kept stock levels at my desired level. Automatically post every glyph I made onto the AH. The tasks needed for this market are not unique, and so the most important tool that can trace its origin to the glyph market is certainly TradeSkillMaster. TSM is an addon that I've covered before, and it's built from the ground up to be perfect for glyphs. It's also perfect for a lot of other markets, but mostly those you can treat like glyphs.
Spiritual Guidance: Macros for healing priests
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers healing for discipline and holy priests, while her archenemy Fox Van Allen dabbles in shadow. Dawn also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. Some time last year on Spiritual Guidance, I wrote an article on macros for healing priests. Overall, it was a simple approach to the topic, touching on some basics like binding consolidation, communication, and a couple of utility macros. The article generated a lot of discussion, and several readers submitted some quality macros for their fellow priests. Since a few of those macros are now outdated and I've added a few new macros to my spellbook in the interim, I thought now would be a good time to revisit the topic and look at what I've dug up in the past few months. Since these were accumulated over time, I haven't kept track of all the original authors of these macros, so if you see something in here you wrote, feel free to shake your fist at me.
EVE Spotlight: An interview with CCP Zulu
EVE Spotlight is a new bi-weekly feature in which we interview prominent members of EVE Online's player community or development team. Twice each month, we'll be shining the spotlight on a player or developer who has a significant impact on EVE to highlight the efforts of EVE's most influential people. It's almost an unwritten rule of game development that someone from quality assurance should never be promoted into a game design role. Game testing and QA are said to be so fundamentally different to design that it's argued the roles require incompatible skillsets. Arnar "CCP Zulu" Gylfason has definitely proven that this isn't the case, successfully migrating from QA to game design and finally being promoted to senior producer on EVE Online. Taking over from CCP T0rfifrans, Arnar has become a very public figure for CCP in the EVE community. Older players will remember Arnar as CCP Zulupark, that horrible guy who nerfed their carriers back in 2007. Alternatively, you may remember a fantastic forum thread from 2008 in which he personally answered countless player questions on game design and balance issues. Since becoming senior producer on EVE, Arnar has been a strong advocate of this kind of heavy communication with players. Through devblogs, interviews and interactions with the Council of Stellar Management, he's helped to fill the information vacuum players have become accustomed to. We caught up with EVE senior producer Arnar "CCP Zulu" Gylfason several weeks ago at the EVE Fanfest. In this EVE Spotlight, I ask him about communication with players, the role of live events in future expansions, and other topics.
Totem Talk: How to use macros to maximize your enhancement utility
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. On Saturdays, Josh Myers tackles the hard questions about enhancement. Can we tank? Can we DPS with a two-hander? How does one shoot web? The answer to the first two is "no," and I have no idea about the third. When I first started playing during The Burning Crusade, I had no idea what a macro was. I'd love to pretend that this was because World of Warcraft was simpler back then and that a good player could get away with never using a macro. Unfortunately, that isn't the case; I just wasn't a very good player in my shaman's youth. The truth is that macros are something that any serious raider or PvPer should never be without. They fulfill a variety of roles, from cast sequence shock macros saving you some bar space to using your Feral Spirits' Bash ability on a focused healer to interrupt their Tranquility cast. In a raiding game where the ability to interrupt a target you're not DPSing is a huge asset, learning to manage your abilities through macros is a huge benefit for you and for your raid group (as well as for your arena team).
Ready Check: Using macros for raid calls
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. We talked last week about raid calling. Even if every raid member has read up on the fights, watched videos, and has all of their addons installed, some well-timed raid calls can do a lot to help your raid work together. A problem presents itself if some raiders can't be in voice chat. While I'm sure there are dozens of folks eager to say "can't chat, shouldn't be in raid," the fact is that voice chat isn't always possible. There are medical reasons, lifestyle reasons, and even practicality issues. It happens. Maybe in a perfect world with blue skies, everyone is always in voice chat; but the reality is that you should have a method on hand to deal with voice chat failures. Some people simply can't hear the audio clearly, no matter how carefully and loyally they turn on the program. Typing in raids isn't universally feasible. Addons like Deadly Boss Mods handle a lot of the typing and calling work, so it's not all bad. But what you need is a quick and easy way to spam raid chat with your unique instruction. The answer to that need is to use macros during your raid.
Poll: How many remotes are you using?
We've asked for your input on what's the best universal remote out there, but now we want to know just how many of you are actually using yours. Of course, in some setups, there's always one pesky component or two that might still stick out, or maybe you just let them all pile up and grab which one's needed at the time. So let us know in the poll how many remotes it takes to change the channel, play a DVD, set the sound and dim the lights in your setup and give us a hint on how you arrived to that setup in the comments. %Poll-59075%
New image of Olympus E-PL2 leaks, shows off macro spotlight
We've already seen leaked images of the Olympus E-PL2, the much talked about follow up to the E-PL1. The Micro Four Thirds is expected to boast a new 14-42mm f/3.5 - 5.6 kit lens, a 'direct movie' button, a high-resolution 3-inch display, and an optional Bluetooth model. From the new image above, however, we can see that there will also be an optional 'Medusa' version of the cam with a closeup spotlight for all those insane macro shots you'll undoubtedly be taking. The adjustable LED will also not require an extra battery, so this is one add-on we'll definitely be seriously considering.
EVE Evolved: The RMT problem
Of all the problems that plague MMOs, RMT (real money trading) is perhaps the most disruptive to normal gameplay. By design, almost every MMO has some form of tradable currency that can be collected through normal gameplay. The time it takes to collect that currency has an inherent value, which varies from player to player as not every player values his free time at the same level. It's inevitable that cash-rich players who value their time highly will often want to shortcut normal gameplay by buying the currency directly for cash. The negative impact of RMT and its associated problems is felt in every popular MMO, and EVE Online is no exception. The direct balance issues inherent in allowing players to buy ISK with cash are just the tip of a very unpleasant iceberg. Players who buy ISK from shady websites and services are the reason that the rest of us have to put up with spam-bots in popular chat channels, rampant account hacking, and macros taking up a disproportionately large cut of EVE's in-game resources and server load. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look into the problems caused by RMT, why macro-farming operations have become so wide-spread, and what CCP has done to combat this growing problem.
Totem Talk: A feast of enhancement macros
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Rich Maloy lives and breathes enhancement; his main spec is enhance, and his off spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance and leads the guild Big Crits (Season 2 Ep 05 now out!) as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby. This week, I was hoping to provide a thorough analysis of the new and questionably improved (though most definitely changed) enhancement shaman DPS in patch 4.0.1. Unfortunately, I ended up missing raid on Tuesday and so missed our 11/12 ICC hard mode power clear and have very limited data to analyze. I know you're right there with me when I say it is quite disconcerting to have gaps in our normal frenzied button mashing activities. The long, lonely periods of two or three global cooldowns where we have nothing to do but hope for that fifth Maelstrom Weapon proc, while idly staring at our keys with the strange feeling that we're doing something wrong. Fret not, young shammy. It is the way of the enhancement right now; we will have periods of non-mashing where we can take a deep breath and enjoy the forthcoming five-stack of searing enabled Lava Lash crit. In last week's article I alluded to a macro that combines Magma Totem and Fire Nova into one button, and there were some comments about it. I'm a big macro user; in fact, I have all my macro slots filled up on Stoney and my druid, Finn. I think it's about time I divulged the treasure trove of macros I've accumulated over the years.
Hardware photography contest unearths a treasure trove of geeky creativity
Who'd have thunk it, setting geeks loose with their cameras can actually produce some outstanding results. A recent photography contest held by the Tech Report fellas has come up with a wideranging selection of ultra-geeky imagery; whether you want humorous compositions like the metallic soap opera above, arty monochromatic mood shots, or intimate closeups of classic chips, it's all in there. Our personal favorite has to be the dramatic interplay between a desperate Ethernet card and a CAT5 cable -- you can see it after the break, but we recommend feasting your eyes on the full set at the source link.
WoW Rookie: Keep your key targets in focus
New around here? We've got your back! See all our collected tips, tricks and how-to's for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide. Better keep an eye on that guy: the furbolg you're escorting through the crowd, the off tank you're in charge of healing, the add you're supposed to keep locked down ... The problem is, you also need to click over here to -- argh, lost him in the crush! Now you'll have to tab ba -- whoops, passed him again! OK, start stabbing with the mouse ... If this sounds anything like the chaotic chatter in your brain during a typical encounter, you need more than mere help; you need a focus target. A focus target is a secondary target that helps you keep track of an additional unit other than your current target. Essentially, it's a second target that you can set and unset at will. Focus targets are a great way of keeping track of an escort mob you need to locate in a crowd, an NPC you need to crowd control, a key healing assignment ... Once you set a focus target, it's right there on your screen. You can freely change your main target and turn your attention elsewhere while still being able to monitor your focus target's health, mana and casting bars. You can also create macros that let you apply spells and abilities to your focus target with a single press of a button.
The magical alchemy of mouseovers plus a Razer Naga
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Healers have one of the more ambiguous roles in the World of Warcraft. DPS players mostly thrive by topping the damage meters, using the most optimal rotations, glyphs, etc. Tanks enjoy a form of tunnel vision where their task is ever so straightforward and clear. A healer, however, must keep watch on a whole group of individuals, react to their choices and keep the game itself from defeating them. The worst kind of healer will select one, two or possibly three go-to spells to spam often and early. This player will use healing meters as a measure of success and frequently use them to lay the blame on others when things don't work out. The best kind of healer uses a wide array of abilities at exactly the time required. He conserves mana, keeps everyone alive and even contributes to the raid's overall DPS when possible. The best kind of healer isn't simply the reason you lived; rather, they're the reason things went smoothly. Many healers rely on mods as they strive for this goal. Healbot, for example, creates a special frame for click-casting. It assigns certain spells to certain mouse buttons by default, making healing a breeze. The chief limitation of Healbot, however, is the link to physical buttons on a mouse and the lack of native support for more than five of them. Without keyboard mods, a Healbot healer is restricted to no more than five heals that are ready at a moment's notice. This player will also need a fair bit of practice to get beyond the defaults of "left click, little heal; right click, big heal." Memory plays a role, as Healbot does little to notify you visually of which keys do which action, especially once you've sized the bars down to the point that you can view the entire raid.
