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Google+ profile photos can now be animated GIFs
Rejoice, animated GIF fans! Google+ profile photos can now use the ubiquitous file format. Social networkers can upload their picture of choice, crop it accordingly and revel in spreading internet memes and the ancestors of Vine clips. If you need help finding the perfect avatar, Mountain View has just the search feature you need. Not sure what all this moving image buzz is about? Feel free to take a crash course in web history.
Bring on the cat GIFs! Google adds animated filter to image search
Do you find yourself spending countless hours combing through image searches looking for GIFs of cats wearing sunglasses telling people to "deal with it"? If so, then your lack of productivity is about to become even more galling. Earlier today, Google announced the addition of an animated GIF filter that allows searchers to specifically weed out photos that move. To access this soon to be overused feature, click on Google's Search tools option and select "Animated" as your image type. While we'd hate to pull you away from your epic search for your next internet avatar, you could actually try doing something constructive, like studying the history of the GIF. Or taking a whack at spamming comments with GIFs from Knight Rider, like a certain editor that we know.
Vimeo absorbs iOS app maker Echograph, bets on the GIF-making craze
It's not often we hear about Vimeo making any type of acquisition, but today the company let it be known that it has picked up the team (and assets) behind Echograph, an iOS application that focuses on turning videos into animated GIFs. What's more, Vimeo, as part of the move, is making Echograph a gratis download going forward, marking a notable shift from the previous charge of about three bucks for the app. According to Vimeo, Echograph creator Nick Alt will also go from CEO of Clear-Media, the app's previous owner, to taking on the role of Vice President of Mobile at the video-focused firm, adding that his "proven track record of building innovative video apps made it a perfect fit for Vimeo." No details were given on the deal's financial terms, but we can only imagine a good amount of fancy GIFs were made in order to help celebrate the new property.
My cheap, simple livestreaming rig: iPhone, Ustream, Zagg and Clingo
The challenge: On short notice, I was asked to stream holiday services from my wife's synagogue so that homebound congregants and college students could attend at a distance. "Sure," I said, before I really thought it through. My preferred setup for a reliable video stream would include a MacBook Pro running Adobe's free Flash Media Encoder or Livestream's Procaster, quality FireWire-compatible DV/HDV camera and an Ethernet connection for predictable connectivity -- although I wouldn't dismiss Livestream's adorable and compact $495 Broadcaster hardware streaming kit (to say nothing of the company's $8,500 Studio all-in-one switcher). All of this gear would need room and power to operate, which is rarely a problem at concerts or other events I've streamed from the temple. In this case, however, the pews would be full and there'd be no room to run power cables and networking across the floor. Instead, I threw together the above configuration, which is admittedly low-fi and low-rent but worked surprisingly well. It starts with a Zagg Sparq 2.0 portable battery pack (model discontinued, but there are subsequent units). The Sparq's onboard battery will easily charge an iPhone 4S several times over; plenty of juice for hours of streaming without having to string an extension cord. Next up, a Clingo universal car mount. This articulated arm has a suction cup mount on one end and a sticky, figure-eight pad on the other end. The adhesion pad is strong and reusable but easy to detach from the phone without leaving marks or residue. The advantage over a full-back or bracket mount is easy to deduce: the smaller contact area meant that I could securely mount the phone without covering the back camera. The smooth plastic shell of the Sparq, in turn, made an ideal suction cup mounting surface. Finally, the iPhone 4S, plugged into the Sparq and running Ustream's free broadcasting app. I started with the older broadcast-only app; I could (and should) have been using the new version that supports viewing as well. Some users have reported instability in the combo app, and I wanted to be able to leave this running unattended in a corner, but the difference in quality between the year-old Broadcaster app and the new app is pretty substantial. At that point, all that's left to do is plug it in, check for WiFi coverage, aim it to the front and hit the button. As you can see, there's some modeling clay weighting the Zagg in the picture; although it's pretty substantial, depending on the arm angle the iPhone had a tendency to tip. I used a beanbag on site to keep it stable. Later on, I dug out my Glif and a standard tripod to give me some flexibility with the camera placement, but if I faced a situation that called for this combo I'd definitely use it again. Yes, the sound quality's not great, you've got no zoom, and there are plenty of other issues. But in a pinch, this is the sort of setup that lets you stream an event with only wireless bandwidth and your iPhone -- and if that's not living in the future, I don't know what is.
PBS traces the history of animated GIFs: deal with it (video)
PBS's Off Book has a new short doc available online called Animated GIFs: The Birth of a Medium which, as you may have guessed, traces the history and evolution of the animated GIF over the course of a very informative six and a half minutes. The makers don't settle the dispute over pronunciation (and, really, who could), but they do mine its origins as relic of internet eras past to a post-modern staple of web 2.0 culture. We could tell you more, but that would just ruin the fun. Head on after the break to watch the episode in full.
NY Public Library turns stereographs into animated GIFs, reminds your 3D TV of its roots
Digging your 3D TVs, video game consoles and laptops? Thank the past -- the New York Public Library is here to remind you that streographic entertainment has been blowing minds for over 100 years, and has the animated gifs to prove it. The Library recently introduced Stereogranimator, a web app that taps into the institution's large collection of historical stereographs and allows user to convert them into wiggling GIF animations and 3D anaglyphs. The program was inspired by "Reaching for the Out of Reach," a manual labor of animated stereographs started by San Francisco artist Joshua Heineman. The library currently has over 40,000 pairs of stenographic images just begging to be converted to depth-suggesting wigglepic. Interested? The link is below, friends -- go ahead and create your own psudeo-3D view of history. Too lazy to make your own? Fine, read on for a shaky and colorful look at an orange tree.
Engadget giveaway: win one of five Nexus S 4G phones with $1,000 Google Wallet credit!
We're pretty excited about Google Wallet, but the service is currently only available for Nexus S 4G phone owners, leaving most of you waiting for broader implementation. Well, how would you like to skip the line, getting to test it out on a Nexus S 4G of your very own? Google has supplied us with five phones to give away -- the company is even throwing in $1,000 (yes, one THOUSAND dollars) of prepaid credit to help fund those first few dozen taps. There's one catch: you'll need to use your Nexus S 4G with a Sprint plan, though the carrier is throwing in one month of demo service to get you started. Check out our in-depth preview for a detailed look at the service, and simply leave a comment after the break to be entered to win -- after checking that you meet the entry requirements, of course.
Visualized: 37 years of Roland synths in one awesome animated GIF
You know how much we love our vintage MIDI gear, and apparently our friend Ronny from Das Kraftfuttermischwerk is every bit as big a fan as we are. To that end, he's taken Music Radar's recent guide to all-things Roland and turned it into an awesome (and headache-inducing) animated GIF. Apparently the collection lacks the TR and TB series instruments, otherwise everything the company has produced between 1973 and 2010 should be there. What are you waiting for? Check it out after the break.
