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These Photos Will Make Your Jaw Drop

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Taking photos is easy, especially with the high tech cameras one can easily purchase these days. You just turn the device on, point, and then shoot.

Taking awesome photos is a totally different story, though. I don’t know how those guys do it – they must have a special gift within them that they have nurtured and honed over the years. While it is true that the subject does have a huge role to play, there must be something else that makes certain photos as powerful as they are.

National Geographic has a photo of the day section, and true to their reputation, they showcase only the best that one can see. ((National Geographic Photography))

When I first saw this photo, I told myself, “Forget the old saying that pictures say a thousand words!” This photo goes beyond that. It takes the need for words away. It inundates you with all the words you know. It just is amazing.
camel-thorn-trees-namibia
This photo was taken in Namibia by Frans Lanting, and it shows camel thorn trees in Namib-Naukluft Park. It looks like a painting that only a master can create, but it is a photo!
aurora-iceland
This one is of the Aurora Borealis in Iceland and is taken by Olgeir Andresson. Doesn’t that make you want to hop onto a plane and go see it with your own eyes?
sea-grass-bodega-head
Taken in California (Bodega Head) by David Liittschwager, this photo of sea grass atop rocks with the lone starfish at the center is nothing less than awesome.

Aren’t these lovely images to take with you over the weekend?

Viper Mark II Wallscape

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Tired of looking at a boring plain white wall at night when you can’t sleep? You’re not alone. I bet that you and I, together with countless other people, have the same issue. It’s difficult enough to amuse yourself when insomnia strikes, but that blank thing of a wall makes things even worse.

That’s why online stores like QMX are useful. Guess what I found today? A WallscapeTM that will delight you to no end. A WallscapeTM is a fancy name for a wallpaper or a decorative sticker for your wall, but depending on the design, you will get your money’s worth. The WallscapeTM that I stumbled upon today features nothing less than the Viper Mark II.

Battlestar Galactica fans will know that this fighter was the primary attack craft used by the Colonial Fleet in the first Cylon War. This fighter continued to be effectively used against the Cylons when the Twelve Colonies were left behind.

You may never get a life-size replica of the Viper Mark II in your bedroom, but you can always get this WallscapeTM to help your imagination along. Forty-eight inches of space fighter goodness, with an incredible amount of detail, on your wall – it will be easy to imagine that you are Lee Adama or Kara Thrace as you drift off to beddy-bye land.

The WallscapeTM is based on the original studio 3D digital model of the Viper Mark II, and it even includes details such as scars from battles. It’s really something that any decent BSG fan will want on his wall. And for $49.95, it is not such a bad deal. That’s a small price to pay for the peace of mind that having a fighter at your disposal in case the Cylons under your bed decide to go on the offensive. 😉

Virtual Fitting Room Courtesy of the Kinect

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Virtual Fitting Room

Want to bet that before the year is over, we might just have no need to actually try on clothes when we go shopping? If the setup that Russian company AR Door ((AR Door)) is successful in its endeavors – and I don’t see why it won’t be – we could very well see virtual fitting rooms everywhere.

The idea is simple and not new. In fact, I seem to remember a teeny bopper movie from ages ago where the lead character used a similar system. She would merely use her computer to try on combinations of clothes to see which looked good.

What AR Door is doing, though, is far from a mere teeny bopper project. Using software that they have created, coupled with the Microsoft Kinect, they have created virtual fitting rooms for Topshop, a popular clothing chain. Basically, if a customer fancies a dress, she does not have to look for a private fitting room to undress and actually put the dress on. Instead, she only has to stand in front of a huge screen and let the system do the work. The Kinect scans the customer and displays her on the screen. The customer then has to push virtual buttons to try clothes on. And yes, it works with the back as well. (Of course, you have to see how your backside looks in that pair of jeans!)

See the virtual fitting room in action.

I have to say that this is a brilliant application of the Kinect, which I thought was silly when I saw some people playing with it during a tweet-up. I can already imagine the convenience that this setup will bring!

Mobile Phone Battery Dying? Talk Louder!

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ShoutTechnology never ceases to amaze me, and even the most improbable ideas can turn into reality, thanks to some of the most creative minds in this world. In the future, if you are in the middle of nowhere without electricity and your phone’s battery is running out of juice, you might just have to talk louder to power up your gadget.

I kid you not – this is the technique that has been developed by some electrical engineers in South Korea. The idea is simple – sound waves being converted into electricity. The brainchild of Dr. Sang-Woo Kim of the Institute of Nanotechnology at the Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea, this technique holds a lot of promise for the average person today.

Not only can using the phone to make a call help to charge the battery, but the background noise can also be used to power up the device. Before you get too excited, you have to understand that there are limitations to the technology. For one, the power that can be derived from the sound waves may not be enough to charge the battery to its full capacity. However, if the technology works properly, the sound waves may at least be able to allow the device to keep on functioning until a proper outlet can be accessed. Even better, this technology can be applied to gadgets other than mobile phones. Think netbooks and laptops.

Here’s the science behind the idea: set up two electrodes with strands of zinc oxide in between. Attach a sound absorbing pad. When this pad vibrates, the zinc oxide strands move as well, the result of which is an electrical current. That is, of course, simplifying things, but the concept alone is enough to evoke some excitement as to its potential!

Via Crazy Engineers

All Along the Watchtower Jazz Cover

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Time for a dose of Battlestar Galactica – well, sort of. We may not watch the entire BSG series every year, but enthusiasts will definitely get their hands on anything related to BSG on a regular basis. This month, what I stumbled upon is a jazzy rendition of Bear McCreary’s All Along the Watchtower.

I do not know a single person who has watched BSG who was not affected by that haunting piece by McCreary, and to be honest, I think that it’s still the best version. The Sac State Jazz Singers did a pretty good job, though, especially given the fact that there were no instruments involved. Oh, and they got a comment from McCreary himself!

Wow, guys… this is seriously awesome. Someone sent this link along, and I’m pretty much stunned listening to this. What a killer arrangement! I think I might like it better than mine. 🙂 Keep up the good work. So say we all…

-Bear
bearmccreary

That’s the best praise these guys can get. Without further ado, here is the video. Enjoy those BSG scenes in your head as you listen!

Computers “Given” Schizophrenia

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Robot
First they give computers a sense of humor – something that is totally cool, I think. Now they give them a mental disorder, specifically schizophrenia. We sometimes use the word loosely to make fun of people close to us who may exhibit erratic behavior, but schizophrenia is nothing to joke about. Especially when it comes to computers who might one day take over the human race.

All joking aside, researchers have turned to computers to try to gain more insight into the mind of a schizophrenic human. Some researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Yale University have set up a neural network model ((Via: LabSpaces)) to represent the brain and tweaked things so that it simulated conditions wherein excessive levels of dopamine are present. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter which is present in large amounts in the brain of a schizophrenic.

So what did they find out? The neural network model showed that what the dopamine does is to mess with the brain’s ability to remember and forget things. So being schizophrenic is all about not being able to properly forget or ignore things. The result is that people who suffer from schizophrenia make connections that are not present or not real, hence the hallucinations and paranoia.

On the technical side, the creation of this neural network model is a big feat, which can make way for more studies in the future. However, my worrywart nature cannot help but assert itself. What if this computer schizophrenic state becomes the ground for “complications” in human-computer interaction in the future? Call me paranoid, but once artificial intelligence becomes full-blown, you never know. 😉

Image via Chris Devers