Topic: PHOTO - on October 29, 2006 at 9:48:00 PM CET
HDR Tutorial: How to create ‘High Dynamic Range’ Images Using Photmatrix
HDR means ‘High Dynamic Range’. Using software like Photomatix you can create images with a more detail in the highlights and shadows than you can with a normal photo from todays digital cameras. Its similar to the old technique of exposure blending. Taking one photo for the sky and one for the ground, then merging them both together in Photoshop. HDR takes it a step further by increase the amount of detail in the image and allows you to create some unique photos. You can use it carefully to create natural looking photos or you can use it creatively to create atmospheric and emotive photos. The choice is yours as to how you process the end result.
... Link (0 comments) ... Comment
Topic: SECURITY - on October 29, 2006 at 9:37:00 PM CET
RFID tags in new US passports cracked
RFIDIOT, an open-source python library, is now able to read the "encrypted" data in US passports. The data which includes a JPEG image of your face and your personal info (address, age, SSN, etc) is "encrypted" with a weak 52-bit key. All you need to find the crypto key is your passport number, birthdate and the expiry date.
... Link (0 comments) ... Comment
Topic: NATURE - on October 29, 2006 at 11:49:00 AM CET
£3.68 trillion: The price of failing to act on climate change
Britons face the prospect of a welter of new green taxes to tackle climate change, as the most authoritative report on global warming warns it will cost the world up to £3.68 trillion unless it is tackled within a decade.
The review by Sir Nicholas Stern, commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and published tomorrow, marks a crucial point in the debate by underlining how failure to act would trigger a catastrophic global recession. Unchecked climate change would turn 200 million people into refugees, the largest migration in modern history, as their homes succumbed to drought or flood.
... Link (0 comments) ... Comment
Topic: MUSIK - on October 29, 2006 at 11:14:00 AM CET
Tom Waits
For years, he was the booze-soaked bard of the barstool, the keeper of 'a bad liver and a broken heart'. But Tom Waits was saved by his wife, hasn't had a drink for more than a decade and, at 56, is making the music of his life.
Listen to 4 exclusive live Tom Waits songs that won't appear anywhere else.
... Link (0 comments) ... Comment
Topic: COPYRIGHT - on October 29, 2006 at 11:13:00 AM CET
Call for legal copying of own CDs
A think-tank has called for archaic copyright laws to be rewritten to take account of new ways people listen to music, watch films and read books.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is calling for a "private right to copy".
... Link (0 comments) ... Comment
Topic: Bastard pop - on October 29, 2006 at 12:21:00 AM CEST
The Hitmaker vs. The Beatles
A remixer called The Hitmaker has mashed up The Beatles' Sgt. Peppers album, and is releasing the tracks online one at a time. The first one is "Getting Better," and it sounds great. No word on the schedule for the upcoming tracks yet.
... Link (0 comments) ... Comment
Topic: ROBOT - on October 29, 2006 at 12:00:00 AM CEST
China Makes a Sexy, Slutty Robot
We were wondering when the first sexy robot was actually going to be sexy. What with the Karaoke android, the robot monkey, the Chinese beauty robot, and Korea's Ever-1 android all looking a might less than sexy, our hopes for a Human-Robot mating ritual were at an all time low. No longer!
... Link (0 comments) ... Comment
