The HTC Rhyme
The HTC Rhyme is something of a delicate matter, as it is HTC's firstphone that is said to have been designed with a female audience in mind. Yet it comes in dull colours and looks quite a lot like every other HTC handset we’ve seen so far.
PENTAX Q-REVIEW
Let’s get one thing straight from the start. The Pentax Q is quite an incredible camera to behold. It’s tiny. But not only is it tiny, it also looks great.
NIKON 1 V1
Nikon has announced two new compact system cameras: the Nikon 1 V1 and the Nikon 1 J1. We got our hands on both new cameras today, so until we can bring you our Nikon 1 V1 review
The ULTra Personal Rapid Transit System
"Think of it as a horizontal lift," says Fraser Brown, managing director of ULTra, the company that has built a new way to travel to Heathrow Terminal 5 from the business car park
THREE MIFI HSPA
Three has updated its MiFi range with the new Huawei E586 complete with HSPA+, and we have managed to get our hands on one to test out all its mobile internet goodness
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The power of visualization
Data is not useful until it becomes information, and that's because data is hard for human beings to digest.
This is even more true if it's news that contradicts what we've already decided to believe. Can you imagine the incredible mindshift that Mercator's map of the world caused in the people who saw it? One day you believed something, and then a few minutes later, something else.
We repeatedly underestimate how important a story is to help us make sense of the world.
Jess Bachman wants to help you turn the data about the US budget (the largest measured expenditure in the history of mankind, I'm betting) into information that actually changes the way you think.
Hence Death and Taxes, which we're publishing today. The new version belongs on the wall of every classroom, every public official's office, and perhaps in the home of every person who pays taxes.
It is not possible to spend less than ten minutes looking at this, and more probably, you'll be engaged for much longer. And it's definitely not possible to walk away from it unchanged. That's a lot to ask for a single sheet of paper, but that's the power of visualizing data and turning it into information.
Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - Create Ad-Hoc Wireless Networks With Wi-Fi Direct
Abhiroop Basu is an opinionated tech and digital media blogger. As a doe-eyed twenty-something he started his first blog TechComet to comment on anything tech-related that caught his omniscient eye. Since then he has blogged for Android Police, Make Tech Easier, and This Green Machine. In the real world, Abhiroop Basu is a resident of Singapore and the Editor of The Digit, a subsidiary of The Potato Productions Group.
Tips for Creating Better DIY Web Video
Tips for Creating Better DIY Web Video
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You’ve probably seen plenty of articles touting the marvels of online video. Video can be an extremely effective way to connect and share online. Just look at the success of Gary Vaynerchuk. He used his daily video show, WineLibraryTV to attract hundreds of thousands of fans and grow his wine business from $4 million to $50 million. It’s true! Just ask him. And there are many more like him.
Taking the plunge into online video is scary for a lot of people. Video has long been seen as a very complicated, expensive and mysterious process. That’s because back in the old days, before the Internet, before pocket video cameras, it was. If you wanted to create video, you had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment, have specialized skills that you probably learned in college, and have hours and hours of time to devote. It simply wasn’t accessible for the average person.
These days, most of us have at least one, if not more video cameras. We have web cams, flip cams, and cameras on our cell phones. Even our little point and shoot still cameras have video now. And the editing tools are plentiful too. Simple to use, free tools like iMovie (Mac) and Windows Movie Maker (PC) are standard equipment on your computer. So with all these tools available now, anyone can be a professional quality video maker, right? Well, not quite. Just have a look at YouTube and you’ll see that there’s still more bad video out there than good. Of course, the best way to make sure you have the best quality possible with your videos is to hire a pro (yes, shameless self promotion. : )
Unfortunately, for many small business owners on a budget, paying for a professional video company to produce simple web videos is not always an option. The good news is, there are some ways to experiment with DIY video in a low-cost, but effective way. But before you hit that record button, here are a few tips to give your videos a more professional edge. For the sake of brevity, let’s assume that the type of video you’re going to do is a “talking head” – so you, in front of the camera, talking or demonstrating something. In a later post, we can cover producing more complex videos with multiple shots if you like (let me know in the comments).
Turn on the Lights!
I can’t even count how many online videos are done by the glow of the computer screen. You know the type – grainy, underexposed shots of someone’s head, with the computer screen casting an alien-like blue light across their face. It just looks bad, and can definitely be a turn off to your viewers and prospects.
Video cameras are much less light-sensitive than our eyes. This means, in order to have a nice, clear image with good colour, cameras need plenty of light. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to go out and purchase Hollywood-style lighting for your office. But do turn on the lights. Try to avoid overhead lights though – they can cast weird, harsh, nose-enlargening shadows. Shooting your video in a room that has lots of natural light is best. Just make sure that you don’t shoot with your back to a window – unless you want to be a mysterious silhouette!
If you don’t have a lot of natural light available, then go to your local Swedish home decorating store and buy one of those $15 desk lamps. Place the lamp next to the camera, off to one side and point the bulb at your face (this works best if you’re within a few feet of the camera). Often that will be enough light to make a difference. If the background still looks too dark, get another lamp and put it behind you, and shine it across the wall./ Make sure you place it off to the side so it’s out of the shot and far enough away that it doesn’t create a bright spot in the camera frame.
Decent lighting is one of the most important things you can do to create good video. So turn on those lights and repeat after me – no more grainy video!
Turn up the Volume!
The other thing that makes a video seem unprofessional is bad audio. If the sound is too quiet, or so loud it’s distorted, or if there’s a bunch of background noise, it can be very distracting and take away from your message entirely. Invest in a decent quality microphone – there are plenty of USB mics out there that will plug right into your computer. The Snowball is a popular choice. If you’re shooting with a camera that has a mic input, get yourself a small bug, or lavalier mic that you can clip on your lapel. One other option is to use a digital audio recorder, like the spiffy Zoom H4n. It has an extremely sensitive microphone and can plug right into your computer or camera.
When you’re ready to record, make sure you try to reduce or eliminate as much background noise as possible. This means, turning off any loud fans (furnace fans, hard drive fans, etc.) and locking up the pets and the kids and the spouses for a few minutes. If you can, listen on headphones before you record. Microphones can pick up sounds our ears don’t always hear. So hear what your microphone hears, and then you’ll know that it sounds okay.
Practice makes Perfect
Presenting to the camera well is a lot harder than it looks. The pros make it look easy, but when suddenly you’re staring down the lens of this cold, inanimate camera, it can feel quite strange. It’s easy to freeze up, and seem sort of stiff and rehearsed. The only way to really overcome this is to practice. Everyone hates seeing themselves on camera and hearing their own voice for the first time. But stick with it, and you’ll get used to it (notice I didn’t say you’ll ever love it!).
Try not to read off a screen, it will be really obvious that you’re reading. Instead, think of it like giving a presentation. Make notes and think about what you’re going to say ahead of time. Then practice it, as many times as you need to in order for it to feel comfortable. I can’t stress enough, you will feel REALLY weird at first. Your inner voice will tell you that you sound and look ridiculous. But keep trying, and that inner voice will eventually quiet. Play your video back and see how you can improve it. Maybe you say “um” too much (a common problem). Maybe you’re babbling, or not being clear enough. Keep trying.
Talking to a camera takes practice, but persevere. You’ll get there!
Video can be a fun, interesting and inexpensive way to connect and share with your audience. Why not give it a try, and post a link to your video in the comments?
[photo by louisvolant]
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via suzemuse.com
The Price of Power: Congressional Leadership Positions for Sale to the Highest Bidder
October 17, 2011 |
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The following piece appears in the current issue of the Washington Spectator. For more great stories, check out their site.
Under the new rules for the 2008 election cycle, the DCCC [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] asked rank-and-file members to contribute $125,000 in dues and to raise an additional $75,000 for the party. Subcommittee chairpersons must contribute $150,000 in dues and raise an additional $100,000. Members who sit on the most powerful committees … must contribute $200,000 and raise an additional $250,000. Subcommittee chairs on power committees and committee chairs of non-power committees must contribute $250,000 and raise $250,000. The five chairs of the power committees must contribute $500,000 and raise an additional $1 million. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James Clyburn, and Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel must contribute $800,000 and raise $2.5 million. The four Democrats who serve as part of the extended leadership must contribute $450,000 and raise $500,000, and the nine Chief Deputy Whips must contribute $300,000 and raise $500,000. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi must contribute a staggering $800,000 and raise an additional $25 million.
THE YEAR IS 1909. The U.S. income distribution is about as lopsided as it is today. J. P. Morgan is fine-tuning a tariff bill by telegraph from his yacht. Morgan and his fellow robber barons have for years reliably tied Congress up in knots whenever anyone proposes regulating trusts, railroad rates, financial speculation, or labor disputes. A notoriously corrupt ring of U.S. senators, the so-called "Millionaires Club," is on hand to bury in committee any measures that the corporate titans frown upon.
Fast-forward to 2011. Being a millionaire in Congress is nothing special — just about half of all members are one. The legislative process works less operatically, but the result is pretty much the same: legislative gridlock punctuated by occasional blatant special-interest legislation. Banks are rescued; the unemployed are left to their own devices. The housing market is left in free fall, with the bailed-out banks mostly still left to call the tune on foreclosures.
As national income stagnates, financiers submerge financial reforms and derivatives regulation under waves of campaign contributions. Meanwhile, a vast array of interested firms and investors dispatch armies of lobbyists to stymie Congressional action on climate change, block the government from bargaining down prices of drugs paid for by federal health programs, and keep tax increases forever off the national agenda.
We watch the news to see if Congressional stalemates over deficits will lead to a government default that would throw world financial markets into turmoil or force draconian, across-the-board budget cuts at Thanksgiving time. But while we hold our breath, popular discussions about Congress have taken a curious turn. Pundits talk nostalgically about the good old days, when representatives from the two parties regularly played golf together and compromised their differences in the name of the larger national interest. Today such outcomes are said to be impossible. But why, exactly?
The rivers of political money that now swirl 24/7 around Capitol Hill surely play a role in producing the great D.C. stalemate machine. But tired recitations of astronomical campaign-finance spending totals don't tell the full story. Neither does the observation that since the 1990s, Republican leaders both in Congress and out have raised enormous amounts of money from investor blocs that plainly hope to roll back the New Deal as a whole. We need to look at the bigger picture. The tidal wave of cash has structurally transformed Congress. It swept away the old seniority system that used to govern leadership selection and committee assignments in Congress. In its place, the parties copied practices of big-box retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, or Target.
via alternet.org
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
iOS 5 For iPad: 5 Killer Features
iOS 5 For iPad: 5 Killer Features
Apple's iOS 5 is still a great upgrade for iPad tablet users. Here are our five favorite features.
I've been using iOS 5 on the iPad 2 for close to a week now. The new system software from Apple adds a large number of new features to the iPad (as well as to the iPhone and iPod Touch). Here are the few features that stand to make the biggest difference in the daily lives of iPad users.
Notifications: iOS 5 includes the new notification center. It works just as well on the iPad as it does on the iPhone. I have found, however, that it needs some fine-tuning to balance the right amount of information with the least amount of interruption.
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With the old system, incoming notifications (push alerts from apps, messages, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) popped up on the screen and required the user to dismiss them before returning to their task. In order words, they were a total and complete annoyance.
With the new system, messages can be set up to arrive in a number of different ways--including not at all. If and when they do arrive, they appear at the top of the screen in a tiny little bar. If you want to access that message right away, swipe it to the left and you'll be zipped into that app. If you just ignore it, it fades away. You don't have to do anything to dismiss it, and it doesn't interrupt what you're doing. Thank GOD!!!
iMessage: iMessage is Apple's new push-based messaging service. It lets you send messages to other iOS 5-device users for free. The messages are sent through the internet, so they don't cost anything.
Messages can be addressed to a phone number or an email address, it doesn't matter. iMessage is smart enough to figure out which of your contacts is also using iOS 5 so you don't have to call people to ask them. Better, families that share an Apple ID can set up multiple iMessage email addresses for their multiple iOS devices so everyone gets their own messages. The bottom line here is that you can send text/instant messages to any other iOS 5 user right from your iPad.
iTunes Wi-Fi Sync: Plugging your device into a computer to sync apps, music, movies, books, and more can sometimes be a real pain. Now, iOS devices support syncing via Wi-Fi.
There are a couple of limitations. First, the iPad needs to be plugged into a power source; second, both the iPad and the computer in question need to be on the same Wi-Fi network (or connect via Wi-Fi directly); third, it isn't nearly as fast as cable-based syncing. In other words, if you want to sync apps, books, and perhaps settings, Wi-Fi is a great way to go. If you're going to sync larger content, such as MP3s or movies, you're better off plugging directly into the computer.
Safari: My favorite improvement for the iPad with iOS 5 is found within Safari, the iPad's browser. In iOS 5, the iPad now offers true tab-based browsing. Just as in Safari on the desktop, Web page tabs appear in the bar along the top of the website. If you want to jump between tabs, simple select the one you want and you're taken directly there.
In the old system, the iPad supported up to nine open websites at a time, but you had to jump out to a 3 x 3 grid of thumbnails, poke the one you wanted to visit, and then jump to the Web page. The new desktop-style tabs are much, much faster for website switching.
Safari in iOS 5 has also been given a major boost in performance, especially in the HTML5 department. It is zippier at loading sites, and I've noticed fewer Web page compatibility problems.
Multitouch Gestures: Perhaps the neatest trick added by iOS 5 are some new multitouch gestures. Using four or five fingers, you can pinch while using any app to be taken back to the main home screen (rather than press the home screen button). You can also swipe up from the bottom of the screen to reveal the multitasking bar or swipe left or right to jump between open applications.
The last feature is a killer productivity enhancer for multitaskers. If you're careful and open/use apps in a select order, you can swipe back and forth between them easily rather than double-tap the home button, pick the app, and then jump there.
These five apps just scratch the surface of what's available in iOS 5 for the iPad. We'll be sure to share more as we uncover them.
Surrounded by data? Demands from users for fast access? Endless retention policies? Cloud storage can help, say vendors. However, our survey reveals that IT is skeptical. Read our report now. (Free registration required.)
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