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10 iPad Self-Portraits

Dean Kosage — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:05:47 +0000

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I’ve selected 10 top examples of iPad owners having fun with both versions of the Apple tablet to create playful portraits — a very modern twist on the classic artistic genre. ~ Dean Kosage

Take a look through the gallery to see my favorites (in no particular order) and let us know about any great ones you’ve come across — or created — in the comments below.

1. Tim Knezevich

Beautiful lighting adds a quiet grace to Tim Knezevich’s fantastically done infinity illusion.

2. Alexander Small

Alexander Small adds another layer to his self-portrait with the addition of an iPhone that effectively highlights his intense eyes.

3. PBody

PBody gags himself in his perfectly aligned and very well done self-portrait.

4. Ryan Pendleton

The thinking behind Ryan Pendleton’s fun shot is to show how sometimes gadgets can enslave their owners. Although as a self-confessed iProduct fan, Pendleton says he “happily succumbs” to such enslavement.

5. Chris Deakin

Photoshop ninja Chris Deakin has combined two separate images to create his pixellated take on the iPad self-portrait.

6. Jonathan Vazquez

There’s no Photoshop in Jonathan Vazquez’s portrait that uses multiple Apple devices to great effect.

7. Ted

Ted is the first to admit his neck isn’t aligned perfectly, but we’re certainly not going to hold that against him as we enjoy his cool camera-themed creation.

8. Andrei Popa

We’re impressed with this pic, in which Andrei Popa puts himself inside his iPad.

9. Corey Weekley

There’s a real sense of fun in Corey Weekley’s photo. We especially enjoy the little bit of hair sticking up from behind the iPad.

10. Tim Sismey

Finally, not actually a self-portrait but a portrait of one of Tim Sismey’s iPhone developer buddies, this makes great use of multiple iOS devices to create some serious quirk.

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China opens first ‘space post office’

Dean Kosage — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:26:27 +0000

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Soon you can get a real postcard from the edge.In this era of Facebook, email, Twitter and other social media, getting a postcard from someone’s travels has a certain appeal.China’s mail service looks to be taking that tourist postcard to a whole new level. Amazing! ~ Dean Kosage

To celebrate Thursday’s docking of the Shenzhou-8 unmanned spacecraft with space lab module Tiangong-1, China’s post authority has opened a new branch office outside the country and out of this world — 343 kilometers above the Earth, to be exact.

Opening for business on the same day, the China Post Space Office has two venues — one on-the-ground base inside the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center (BACCC) and one “virtual office” aboard the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft.

There is also a new designated post code — 901001.

China Post Group’s general manager Li Guohua told China Daily the post office will be able to deliver mail from the public to astronauts in future.

The office will also issue postal souvenirs, such as stamps and envelopes that depict China’s major space program events.

We weren’t exactly sure what a virtual space post office was or how it all worked, so we made some calls. We left the ‘why send mail to space when you can email or Skype chat’ question for another day.

According to staff at the BACCC post office (which houses the worldly version of the space post office) the new branch handles normal postal as well as courier services.

All mail going through the BACCC office will be chopped with a special postmark showing the date in numerals, and “Beijing” and “Space” in simplified Chinese.

Philatelic fans can also send a letter to themselves to obtain the postmark by providing an extra envelope with sufficient return stamps (RMB 0.8 from Beijing, RMB 1.2 from other Chinese cities) and an address.

Beijing News reported Shenzhou-8 had in its payload three postcards to space this trip.

According to the report, it is possible the Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft, expected to launch in 2012, will take stamps and letters from the public into the final frontier.

And what sort of mail might be carried?

“For example, [people] can send us their wedding photos or vows to travel to space with the spacecraft. After [the spacecraft] brings them back, the space post office will mail them back to the owners on the agreed date,” an anonymous manager at Beijing Haidian post office told Beijing News.

The authority is yet to announce the price for mailing to space.

China Post Space Office is affiliated to China Post Group,the country’s first space-traveling astronaut.

Want to mail China’s space office? This is what to put on your envelope:

China Post Space Office
Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center
Haidian District, 901001
Beijing, China

To obtain a space postmark in person for your mail, head to this address: Courtyard 1, Yongfeng Xiangxin Dian, Daidian District, Beijing 北京海淀区永丰乡辛店1号院, +86 10 6874 6825, 9:30 a.m.- 12 p.m., 2 p.m.- 4 p.m.

China Post Space Office charges RMB 1 on top of postage for issuing one space postmark.

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520 Days of Mars Mission

Dean Kosage — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:07:36 +0000

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The record-breaking simulated mission to Mars has ended with smiling faces after 17 months. Mars500’s six brave volunteers stepped out of their ‘spacecraft’ today to be welcomed by the waiting scientists – happy that the venture had worked even better than expected. ~ Dean Kosage

Welcome back and thank you, Mars500

The video shows the 520 days of the astronauts’ life during the mission compressed into 15 minutes.

Oh, Mars. As the possible next step in human space exploration, the Red Planet is bound to be visited by us bipeds someday. So what’s the best way to make sure something doesn’t go wrong? Make a simulated, 520 day-long mission with real astronauts and see how things turn out.

Mars500, the European Space Agency’s mission held in a Moscow institute, started 520 days ago on June 3, 2010, with six astronauts enduring the hardships they would probably encounter on a real flight to Mars: The flight there, insertion into orbit, landing, exploration of the planet, and finally the long flight back and landing on Earth.

The mission cost $15 million and, although it could not replicate every aspect of a real flight to Mars (such as constant low gravity conditions), it had the crew perform more than 100 experiments with limited consumables and communications with Earth being artificially delayed and, at times, disrupted.

According to ESA, the team of six international male astronauts has performed “exceptionally well” during the simulated flight. They will go through a series of tests, debriefings and evaluations until early December, when the mission officially ends!

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Top 10 Tech This Week

Dean Kosage — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:24:12 +0000

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Here’s the Top 10 Technology this week.. - ~ Dean kosage

1. Samsung Flexible Screen

While Nokia teased us this week with a slightly flexible prototype device, Samsung steps up with an even more flexible screen the company says will grace the front of a smartphone or tablet by 2012. We saw one of these flexible AMOLED screens from Samsung at CES 2011, but the big news is this has gone beyond the prototype stage, where we’ll allegedly be bending screens every which way by next year. We’ll believe it when we see it.

2. Motorola Atrix 2

While I’m not a fan of the design of those hump-backed smartphones by HTC, this Motorola Atrix 2 is the most impressive Android phone I’ve seen yet. Its super-sharp 4.3-inch screen is noticeably bigger than its predecessor, and I especially like its pebble-grained back, giving extra confidence against droppage. Now if I could just get used to its Android 2.3 operating system — which is an acquired taste. But it’s so customizable I’m bound to find a commodious configuration. I’m using it all the time (and liking it a lot) until they make me send it back in a week or two.

3. Mint iPad

Mint, Intuit’s online financial software that I think is second to none, has finally released a Mint iPad app, and it turns out it was worth the wait. It’s one of the best iPad apps ever created, better than all of Mint’s software for iPhone, Android and web put together. Gorgeous graphs, drill-down capabilities through many levels, and a remarkably intuitive interface make this free app the smooth operator of the year.

4. Working DSLR Costume

Halloween creativity reaches new heights this year with this working DSLR costume by Michigan photographer Tyler Card. It doesn’t just look like a DSLR, it is one, with a built-in LCD display, built-in “flash” and a working shutter release button. If there’s a more clever Halloween costume this season, I haven’t seen it yet.

5. BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9981

Who says the BlackBerry is dead? If you can afford to shell out $2,000, you can get one that’s designed by Porsche, complete with typefaces and icons that make the phone look like it could accelerate from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds. If you have the bucks, this stainless steel and leather masterpiece will be available before the end of this year.

6. iHome iW1 Speaker

We hear a lot of guff about wireless speakers, but this iHome iW1 doesn’t even need a power cable to rock your Casbah. A stellar example of clean and simple design, this $299.99 beauty connects to iOS devices via Wi-Fi using AirPlay, or you can plug in your device via USB. And when you want to take it from room to room, there’s a handle on the back that makes it easy to carry.

7. Air Propulsion Yacht (Design Concept)

At first I thought this was some sort of futuristic aircraft, but this speedy Air Propulsion Yacht flies on the water in grand style. This luxury watercraft is a concept created by Aquila Design, and it’s built for both comfort and speed with a multi-level interior that transforms into various configurations depending on what you have planned for the day.

8. Westone 4 R-Series Quad-Driver Earphones

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? If it’s anything like these Westone 4R Quad Driver Earphones, the answer is four, because that’s how many speakers are shoehorned into these tiny cans. As with most high-end headphones costing around $450, every detail has been attended to, including what the company calls a “tight tolerance of ± 2 decibels between earpieces.” Audiophiles are going to love this.

9. Google TV with Android

Google says it has learned from its mistakes with the first outing of Google TV, and now it’s replacing that confusing interface with Android 3.1 (Honeycomb). Will it be any better? I’m thinking that depends on the relationships Google forges with content creators such as TV networks and film studios. It’s all working toward an admirable goal: to be able to find and display what’s worth watching on TV (and the web) using Google’s search prowess. Can Android accomplish this feat on the Google TV-packing Logitech Revue, Sony TVs and other forthcoming set tops and devices? We’ll get our hands on the upgrade soon after it’s released early next week and let you know.

10. Energizer iSurge

If you travel a lot, you’ve undoubtedly run into the dreaded outlet shortage problem. That issue is solved nicely by the Energizer iSurge, giving you a trio of surge-protected outlets, a USB port on the side (with enough power to charge an iPad) and a dock for your iOS device. I tested this unit, and I like those features and another nice touch, a little night light bar across the bottom that you can turn off if you want to sleep in total darkness. If it were a slightly more compact, it would be the perfect charging station for those who live on the road.

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9 Incredible Halloween Costumes

Dean Kosage — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:03:22 +0000

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Memes are huge this year. So are video game birds, superheros and working iPhone bodysuits. Incredible Halloween Costumes! cool..! ~ Dean Kosage

That’s right, nowadays white sheets and bloody fangs are out — unless you’re desperately hanging on to theTwilight trend, which is only borderline acceptable in my book. This Halloween you’ll be encountering “aha” moments around every corner. Mermaid with thick-rimmed glasses = Hipster Ariel. Aviator-rimmed older man carrying a stuffed badger = Ojai taxidermist Chuck Testa.

1. Angry Birds

The Clock Bloggers had earned such praise for their Angry Birds costumes that they blogged an instructional post for other bird-crazy fans sure to take advantage this Halloween.

2. Shufflebot

“It was a cross between the “Party Rock Anthem” video from LMFAO and a Kia Hamster commercial,” explains Quang Mac, the costume maker. “Halfway into making the head, I saw ‘Sexy and I Know It.’ My initial thought was, ‘CRAP! Now I have to buy a Speedo.’ I am very mild mannered and it is out of character for me to do anything crazy.

“That is what led to the video seen on YouTube. It was an attempt to outdo my last costume. I think I made a valiant effort. Now I have to figure out how to outdo this one for next year.”

3. Hipster Ariel

Photographer Tommy Kearns captured a series of popular meme costumes for Nerve.com.

When asked what he thought of today’s Internet, Kearns replied, “Web culture is the product of the unwashed masses, previously left to passively consume, rising up to create content that refuses to take itself seriously.”Reference the original Hipster Ariel meme.

4. Functioning Camera

Tyler Card built a working Nikon camera costume, featuring LCD display, built-in flash, and shutter-release button.

“As of last Sunday I had no idea what to be for Halloween, and with only about a week to decide before the first costume party I planned to attend, I started getting desperate,” says Card. “I didn’t plan on the costume being so functional and detailed, but as I built it, the ideas started coming, and when I get involved with something, I tend to go over the top.

“The most difficult part of making the costume was actually just cutting a circular piece of plexi-glass for the lens without the proper tools. And getting the damn thing on and off requires a little help [laughs].”

5. Ms. Pac-Man & Blinky the Red Ghost

“My boyfriend and I wanted to have costumes that went together but wasn’t necessarily a “couples costume,’” says Ms. Pac-Man, aka Megan Messenger.

“The idea of Pac-Man and Ghosty seemed like the perfect idea, especially since Pac-Man is one of the few video games I can actually play. Everyone got a real kick out of our costumes, especially when Ghosty chased Pac-Man down the street — ‘Wakka wakka wakka.’”

6. GuyPhone

John Savio has made three of these iPhone costumes, one of which he sold for $5,200!

The costume is primarily made of wood, fiberglass and the latest LED flatscreen, which is what makes it so expensive, Savio says. “It’s basically an ice cream sandwich, and I am the ice cream.”

The screen connects to a real iPhone and displays the phone’s capabilities, but doesn’t feature touchscreen technology, unfortunately.

When asked what inspired him to make such a rad iPhone costume, the former Apple employee replied, “It’s a love for Apple products.”

7. Nyan Cat

Another photograph by photographer Tommy Kearns for Nerve.com, this costume references the viral Nyan Cat video.

8. Tron Siren Gem

Etsy costume maker DameFatale constructed this rendition of Tron Siren program named Gem, on sale for $2,000.

She also makes Catwoman, superheroine and space-agey costumes that would be perfect for Comic-Con and Halloween.

9. Cloud Computing

Blogger Sobrina Tung constructed her cloud costume last minute from white felt, hot glue and a little pillow filler.

She explains that the costume is meant to be interpreted as “I’m in the cloud.” Super nerdy — and we love it!

“Since I’d already dressed up as Twitter and a slice of pizza in prior years, I really had to rack my brain for something special,” says Tung. “The company I was working for at the time was in the middle of a Salesforce implementation, and the cloud was all anyone could talk about. I thought dressing up to be ‘in the cloud’ would be a funny way to add a visual to the conversation.”

Artificial Super-Skin Could Transform Phones, Robots and Artificial Limbs

Dean Kosage — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:17:17 +0000

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Here’s the artificial Super-Skin could transform Phones, Robots and Artificial Limbs and now comes the first robot ever to say “ouch” and mean it. ~ Dean kosage

Using carbon nanotubes bent to act as springs, Stanford researchers have developed a stretchable, transparent skin-like sensor. The sensor can be stretched to more than twice its original length and bounce back perfectly to its original shape. It can sense pressure from a firm pinch to thousands of pounds. The sensor could have applications in prosthetic limbs, robotics and touch-sensitive computer displays.

Touch sensitivity on gadgets and robots is nothing new. A few strategically placed sensors under a flexible, synthetic skin and you have pressure sensitivity. Add a capacitive, transparent screen to a device and you have touch sensitivity. However, Stanford University’s new “super skin” is something special: a thin, highly flexible, super-stretchable, nearly transparent skin that can respond to touch and pressure, even when it’s being wrung out like a sponge.

The brainchild of Stanford University Associate Professor of chemical engineering Zhenan Bao, this “super skin” employs a transparent film of spray-on, single-walled carbon nanotubes that sit in a thin film of flexible silicon, which is then sandwiched between more silicon.

After an initial stretch, which actually aligns the randomly sprayed-on conductive, carbon nanotubes into microscopic spring-like forms, the skin can be stretched and restretched again to twice its original size, without the springs or skin losing their resiliency. Darren Lipomi, a postdoctoral researcher who is part of Bao’s research team explained, “None of it causes any permanent deformation.”

This unique makeup allows the malleable skin to measure force response even as it’s being stretched, or “squeezed like a sponge.” Researchers noted that it can also sense touch and force at the same time.

This super skin is not simply a thicker, more flexible version of the touch screen on your iPhone 4S. Virtually all touch-sensitive smartphones feature transparent films that sense touch. However, these capacitive screens are only responding to the tiny electrical charge in your fingertips and do not actually know if you’re touching lightly or hammering the screen.

Flexible touch screens for computers and smartphones is one obvious super skin application idea, but the Stanford researchers have larger goals. They envision future robots wearing this flexible touch and pressure-sensitive skin. From there, the next logical step is replacement of skin on people, especially burn victims or those who have lost limbs.

Learn more in the video and then give us some of your ideas for how industry could use this super skin breakthrough..

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1-Year-Old Plays With Magazine Like It’s an iPad

Dean Kosage — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:05:40 +0000

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Here’s a funny video I have watched from YouTube and I am amazed with this baby! ~ Dean Kosage

Kids today. They think the world revolves around them, that texting trumps face-to-face conversations and that print magazines are actually iPads.

Say what? Well, about that last part: While there are apocryphal stories about toddlers trying to activate their TVs by touching their screens, the same apparently holds true for non-electric objects. As this video demonstrates, to a 1-year-old, Apple‘s iPad is something that’s literally been around of all their lives.

So rather than be amazed at all the things an iPad can do, this child is confounded by what a paper magazine cannot do.

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Star Wars + Maroon 5 = “Moves Like Jabba”

Dean Kosage — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:09:17 +0000

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Jabba the Hutt, the slug-like crime lord from the Star Wars saga, has inspired the latest parody of Maroon 5′schart-topping “Moves Like Jagger.” The lyrics for the new spoof — titled “Moves Like Jabba” — poke fun at the fictional character’s unfavorable eating habits and enormous size. For example:

“No Jedi mind tricks can control him / The force bounces off his double chin / With them moves like Jabba / He’s got big boobs like Jabba / I gotta moooooooove like Jabba.”

Other Star Wars characters have recently made their way into several viral videos, including Darth Vader and a pair of Stormtroopers in a Disneyland commercial and a mini Darth Vader in Volkswagen’s Super Bowl ad.

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iPads Now Driving More Web Traffic Than iPhones

Dean Kosage — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:15:03 +0000

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Smartphones and tablets — particularly the iPad — are becoming an increasingly significant source of web traffic in the U.S.

According to web analytics firm comScore, smartphones and tablets accounted for 6.8% of all web traffic in the U.S. in August.

Approximately two-thirds of that 6.8% came from mobile phones, while the remaining third came from tablet devices. The iPad dominated the latter category, accounting for 97.2% of tablet traffic.

The iPad is driving more web traffic than the iPhone, accounting for 46.8% of all traffic originating from iOSdevices in August, compared to the iPhone’s 42.6% share. iOS’s total share of U.S. mobile web traffic in August was 58.5%.

Tablet ownership continues to be prevalent among young, wealthy males. ComScore found that 54.7% of tablet owners using the web in August were male, and nearly a third were between ages 25 and 34. Almost half were members of households that earned more than $100,000 per year.

And what are tablet owners using their devices for? Nearly 60% are accessing social networking sites and consuming news on their devices. Approximately 25% are reading news on those devices on a near-daily basis.

Shopping is also a popular pastime. In August, 56% of tablet owners looked up product or price information from a specific store, and 54% read customer ratings and reviews. Nearly half of tablet owners actually completed a purchase on the device.

comScore cites the growing availability of Wi-Fi and mobile broadband adoption as the two primary drivers of increased traffic from mobile and tablet devices in the U.S. More than a third of mobile phone traffic in August occurred over a Wi-Fi network, up 3% from the previous three months. Ninety percent of tablet browsing was done on Wi-Fi.

comScore estimates that 116 million U.S. residents use mobile media — that is, those who browse the web, access apps or download content using mobile devices — up nearly a fifth from the previous year.

No major changes in NASCAR’s 2012 Cup schedule

deankosage — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:25:47 +0000

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR made no major changes to the 2012 Sprint Cup Series schedule aside from flipping a few race dates and moving the start of the season back one week.

The Daytona 500 opens the season Feb. 26, one week later than usual. NASCAR had to schedule 38 races over 40 weeks because of the later start to the season.

Kansas Speedway had its race moved from June to April to accommodate a plan to pave the track.

Talladega Superspeedway’s race in April was moved to May, and it’s October date was pushed up earlier in the month so Kansas had more time for its paving project.

The first race at Dover was moved back to May after a few years of running in June.

Because of when July 4 falls, Kentucky Speedway’s date was moved up to the week before Daytona instead of the week after.

NASCAR didn’t release the Nationwide or Truck schedules.

Taken from: yahoo news