Tesla Should Make Sergey Brin’s Model S Makeover A Standard Option
Google co-founder Sergey Brin appears to have been pranked by Google employees, according to info shared on the Tesla Motors Club forum. This image of the Google bigwig’s fancy Tesla Model S roadster, with some aftermarket additions, popped up today on Twitter. Note the sweet “Chrome” rims it’s rolling on, if you can pull your eyes away from the hot pink color scheme, long beautiful eyelashes and Batman iconography.
Besides the photo from the forum and Twitter, there’s also another pic shared by Google+ users and Google employee Nathan Johns, providing multiple angles from which to view this beauty. The makeover just might have something to do with Brin’s comment when discussing Glass about smartphones being “emasculating,” but it definitely also takes influence from the fact that there’s a longstanding rumor on Google campus that Brin is actually Batman.
We’ve reached out to Google to find out whether or not this is going to become the default design for all future Google self-driving cars, and will update when we know more.
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Check It Out Lifeloggers: First Memoto Camera Prototype Photos Show Impressive Image Quality
The Memoto is a tiny camera that you wear which takes a photo every 30 seconds and automatically uploads it to an online service. It’s a dedicated lifelogger’s dream, if there is such a being out there. Now, the Kickstarter-funded gadget has shown off its first official photos in a blog post and companion gallery posted today.
The pictures from Memoto are taken from a working Memoto prototype, and they haven’t been touched with post-processing software, the company notes. It also promises to tweak color saturation (to increase it, which is what the kids these days like in their fancy smartphone pics), and the exposure will also get some changes to account for darker lighting environments. Memoto also plans to refine sharpness and compression before the Memoto ships.
From what they’ve provided, I’d say the Memoto team is being overly hard on itself: these pics compare favorably to a lot of smartphone cameras out there, even if they’re slightly smaller in terms of resolution than most at five megapixels. Considering you’ll have 2,880 images over the course of a full 24 hours if you stick with the Memoto’s default setting of one pic snapped every 30 seconds, it’s probably for the best that these are 5 megapixel (which is more than sufficient for web resolution).
To recap for those who didn’t get in on the Kickstarter campaign, the Memoto is just 36x36x9mm, and features GPS on board to log the location of photos. Once you plug it into a computer, it connects to the Memoto service and uploads the photos. It also has a built-in accelerometer to help it properly orient photos no matter what the angle, and it has room on board for 4,000 pictures. Apps for iPhone and Android let you view your cloud-stored photos wherever you are.
Memoto could make or break itself based on image quality, and these first photos from a production prototype are promising in that regard. The company unfortunately won’t make its initial projected ship date of March, but hopes to begin mass production in April. Hopefully those hardcore lifeloggers out there can somehow manage for an extra month without documenting their every waking moment.
Link: Check It Out Lifeloggers: First Memoto Camera Prototype Photos Show Impressive Image Quality
‘Bi-Partisan’ Official Inauguration App Is a Sexy Liberal Data Spy
Watching the live stream of President Obama’s inauguration on the official smartphone app could make you a lucrative target for liberal spam. Buried in the terms of service for the widely praised and gorgeous Inaugural 2013 application is permission for the non-partisan Presidential Inaugural Committee to share data “with candidates, organizations, groups or causes that we believe have similar political viewpoints, principles or objectives,” according to Politico.
“It seems like classic bait-and-switch,” said Kathy Kiely, managing editor of transparency watchdog, the Sunlight Foundation, “This is a committee that’s formed to throw a celebration for an event that should be nonpartisan. Theoretically, the whole country should be involved. It’s a patriotic, banners-and-bunting and parades kind of day. And oh, by the way, if you use this app, we may be harvesting your emails and sharing it with our friends in the Democratic Party.”
The app’s minor obsession with collecting telephone numbers, GPS data, and permission for notifications are all perfectly justifiable to help crowds navigate the chaotic and event-filled occasion. But, privacy advocates find it troubling that the fine-print on the PIC’s website says it can use activity data “without limitation in advertising, fundraising and other communications in support of PIC and the principles of the Democratic party, without any right of compensation or attribution.”
In an email to Politico, PIC spokeswoman, Addie Whisenant, explained the data mining policy, “Regardless of party, it is appropriate for a presidential Inaugural Committee to support and reflect their party’s ideals and causes.”
All of this hand-wringing could be over-hyped, but it would be difficult to track if users actually get put on liberal donor lists. The fact that the PIC hasn’t categorically denied efforts to hock spam at users is certainly troubling.
Its too bad, too. The Inauguration app is positively gorgeous. The navigation, layout, and features are all top notch. It’s like a sexy spy–a sexy, sexy, spammy spy.
Continued here: ‘Bi-Partisan’ Official Inauguration App Is a Sexy Liberal Data Spy
PIP Camera: A simple iOS camera app dedicated to photo-in-photo effects
There’s no shortage of mobile apps geared towards helping amateur snappers shoot and share the world around them. There’s PowerSketch for starters, which we covered last year, transforming your iOS snaps and videos into artwork.
Another one that’s hit our radar is PIP Camera for iOS, which serves up a pretty extensive selection of effects to help you create a photo-in-photo look, that’s really quite realistic.
How it works
You can take a snap with either your front or rear-facing camera, and superimpose a bubble, bottle, magnifying glass…you name it, onto the image. You can also download more effects to your library for free.
The final effect could look a little something like this…indeed, self-shots are a core underlying selling point of this app:
But it could equally be applied to any of your holiday snaps too.
PIP Camera is the handiwork of China-based Fotoable, the same company behind FotoRus – another popular photo app. Indeed, PIP Camera is actually a spin-off from FotoRus, which features a ‘Pic-in-Pic’ mode. With PIP, however, there are a slew of new effects, plus you can export your creation at 960px x 960px.
The app has been proving a minor hit so far across Asia and other regions, and as its library of effects is constantly updated with new materials, its popularity can only grow.
PIP Camera is available to download for free now.
Image Credit: Thinkstock
Excerpt from: PIP Camera: A simple iOS camera app dedicated to photo-in-photo effects
Settle Down, Facebook Users, ‘Cause You’re Not Getting $1M For Sharing A Pic Of A Fake Lottery Ticket
In today’s edition of Facebook scams comes the story of Nolan Daniels and his $1 million lottery ticket picture. “Looks like I won’t be going to work EVER!!!! Share this photo and I will give a random person 1 million dollars!”, says the Facebook pic. Of course this is legit. It’s on Facebook. Never mind that the numbers on the ticket are out of order.
It doesn’t take Gawker to figure out that this is just a well-timed scam. But that hasn’t stopped 638,006 people (and counting!) from hedging their credibility for a chance at a chunk of this guy’s winnings.
The fake picture was uploaded Thursday night, the day after a $550 million Powerball lottery drawing went to two winning tickets. When the pic was uploaded, only one of the winners had come forward. The second winner has yet to claim his riches.
But alas, the picture is fake. While the ticket has all the right numbers, they’re not in the proper order. Per the Powerball FAQ: “The tickets print the white ball numbers (the first five numbers) in numerical order.”
Sorry, folks. The only way to make a quick buck is to play the lottery.
I didn’t reach out to Nolan because this is a harmless scam.
Originally posted here: Settle Down, Facebook Users, ‘Cause You’re Not Getting $1M For Sharing A Pic Of A Fake Lottery Ticket