For a lot of people, the camera is more important than the photograph it takes. You’ve seen them, obsessively calibrating and posting endlessly on forums with questions about the bokeh of a Leica lens. For Wayne Martin Belger, though, the…
For a lot of people, the camera is more important than the photograph it takes. You’ve seen them, obsessively calibrating and posting endlessly on forums with questions about the bokeh of a Leica lens.
For Wayne Martin Belger, though, the kit really is more important than the photo. He scratch-builds intricate and macabre pinhole cameras which feature parts you wont find on any DSLR: The skull of a dead 13 year old girl; HIV infected blood; a preserved baby’s heart. These artifacts are closely tied to the subjects of the photographs. For instance, Belger uses the HIV camera to make portraits of people suffering from the virus.
PopPhoto has a gallery of Belger’s images, and also shots of the cameras themselves. When a project is done, he sells the camera along with the photographs. One, fashioned from a 500 year old Tibetan skull, is on sale for $240,000.
It’s not just about the materials used, though. Belger crams some pretty cool hacks in there, too. The Tibetan skull-cam, for instance, is a stereoscopic model which captures images through pinholes in the eye sockets and loads film using pneumatic pistons powered by a 300psi air tank.
The format war over, and Blu-ray safely enthroned as the victor, Warner can now turn its sights beyond—to downloads and the infinite format war. Time Warner’s chief executive announced today that Warner Bros. will release movies for on-demand systems like Comcast’s and Apple Television on the same day they’re released on DVD from now on.
Warner’s been toying around with it for a tiny while and been increasingly open to world wide web distribution, so it doesn’t come as a major surprise. Interestingly, according to their numbers, offering same-day releases on the web only eats into DVD rentals by 3-5 percent, and actually increases sales. Plus, on the web rentals/sales double bring them more than double the profit margin of physical discs, so everybody wins, except for Blockbuster. (So Hollywood really does have nothing to fear from online distribution.)
The best news though? Head of Warner’s home video stated that they’re trying to make online rentals “at least as lenient” as grabbing a DVD from Blockbuster, breaking open that 24-hour window. Now that would be a deathblow for Blockbuster. [Bits]
The SmartJack Oil Pump may be more efficient at persistently suckling out the world’s remaining fossil fuels for the benefit of the captains of industry than regular oil pumps, but do they really expect anyone to buy their green pitch?
And if anyone does, can they be clubbed with giant foam fists with tattooed knuckles spelling YUR CRZY? Please?
The SmartJack Oil Pump is supposed to be 30% smaller than regular see-saw beam pumps, and the unit produces about 50% less emissions. But it’s pumping out oil from the bowels of the earth! Which leads to dangerous levels of Co2, warming temperatures, and really, that is anything but ’smart.’ Essentially, it’s like saying “Mike consumes 100 million burgers a day, but look at him, he’s sweating out about 100 calories at the same time, so that’s good. Helping out the overall health of the planet right there.”
Admittedly, there is some fine technology built on top of this thing, such as a remote wireless control option (via ISP or satellite) and it can be protected with bomb-proof armor.
But the device is basically just a cosmetic paint job on an old business whose end is long past due. Which reminds me, I have to go add some decorative, nice-smelling flowers to the frame of my double-barrel and after that, I’m going to read all about the planned recycled material that the local atomic power plant went out of its way to find — you know, to be more environmentally friendly.
The chowed down fish crowding the shot nearly gives a new meaning to “in the wild” photos, but I digress. Until now we’ve only seen the larger, badder Eee PC 900 in that single shade of paleness (unlike its tiny bro), but this shot seems to confirm that a veritable rainbow (or um, a pair) of color options is shortly on the way. So what’ll it be folks, black or white? More shots at the link, if you need help making up your mind. And yes, the fish is in all of ‘em. [Flicka via EeeUser]
Although Paramount has taken longer to announce their Blu-ray slate than the other former HD DVD lackey, they’re getting ‘em out the door quicker, surprisingly. The first three BDs (I hate the acronym, but let’s go ahead and digest it) from Paramount arrive May 20: Face/Off (yes!), Bee Motion picture and Next. Then it gets kinda sparse, with intermittent releases through the rest of the summer, though its first simultaneous new release w/ DVD will be The Spiderwick Chronicles on June 24. Not the hot roster I was looking for (Woo’s opus excepted), but at least the Blu ball for each major studio is finally rolling. Update: We just did one better and got Paramount’s press release with the full list (which confirms HR’s report), check it out below.
PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT’S FANTASTICAL HIT THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES LAUNCHES DAY-AND-DATE WORLDWIDE ON BLU-RAY
There Will Be Blood, Cloverfield, Bee Motion picture, Face/Off and Next Also Released in Time for Memorial Day and Father’s Day;
Focus Remains On Immersive High-Def Home Entertainment Experiences
LOS ANGELES (April 30, 2008) - Paramount Home Entertainment (PHE), a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA), today announced its first day-and-date Blu-ray release, The Spiderwick Chronicles on June 24 and rolling out in key international markets beginning in July. Continuing its commitment to offer the ideal possible motion picture experiences for consumers, the studio will deliver the highest quality picture, sound and special features available with these upcoming Blu-ray releases. In the U.S., There Will Be Blood, Cloverfield, Bee Movie, Face/Off and Next will begin arriving Might 20 to capitalize on Memorial Day and Father’s Day. Internationally, The Spiderwick Chronicles will be followed by Cloverfield and the AcademyÒ award-winner for Ideal Picture, No Country for Old Men beginning in August.
“Paramount Home Entertainment continues to focus on the consumer and to explore avenues that grant fans to get more out of their home entertainment experience,” said Kelley Avery, President of Worldwide Home Entertainment, Paramount Photos. “We will have a strong slate of titles for Blu-ray release throughout the year worldwide and are enthusiastic about expanding the format’s offerings for a broad consumer audience while delivering an experience that goes beyond what viewers love about DVD.”
The Spiderwick Chronicles launches PHE’s day-and-date new release strategy. Based on the best-selling series of books, The Spiderwick Chronicles takes viewers on a fantastical journey into the unseen world all around us and the Blu-ray disc will include behind-the-scenes featurettes, an exploration of the Spiderwick world, an exclusive peek inside Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide and much more.
PHE’s 2008 Blu-ray titles debut on Might 20 in the U.S. with two sensational action-adventures: a Special Collector’s Edition of Face/Off, the mind-blowing crime-drama starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, with special features such as multiple commentaries, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, the Making Of Face/Off and more; and the sci-fi thriller Next, which stars Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel in an adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story. The Next Blu-ray includes a Making Of featurette, “Visualizing the Next Move,” “The Next Grand Idea” and “Two Minutes in the Future with Jessica Biel.”
DreamWorks Animation’s smash hit Bee Movie also will buzz onto Blu-ray on May 20. The hilarious animated adventure from renowned comedian Jerry Seinfeld took audiences by swarm and earned approximately $287 million in worldwide box office. The Bee Movie Blu-ray features a wealth of bonus materials including “Barry’s Trivia Track” with fun pop-up trivia, changeable menus, a Build-A-Bee feature to grant viewers to create their own avatar, lost scenes, alternate endings and much, much more.
Following the initial wave of titles, Producer J.J. Abrams’ monster hit, Cloverfield, arrives on Blu-ray on June 3. Earning over $166 million in worldwide box office to date, Cloverfield thrilled critics and audiences alike with its shocking, first-person video account of a horrifying attack on Manhattan by an unknown—and seemingly unstoppable—force. The Cloverfield Blu-ray will include an exclusive feature-length “Special Investigation Mode” with added details about the film. Additional features include a director commentary, Making Of featurettes, deleted scenes, alternate endings with commentary and more.
Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically-acclaimed epic There Will Be Blood also arrives on Blu-ray June 3. The film was named by more than 200 critics as one of the top 10 movies of 2007 and stars Academy Award®, Golden Globe® and SAG Award® winner Daniel Day-Lewis. The Blu-ray features a slideshow of vintage photos selected by the director and set to the unforgettable score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, deleted scenes, a featurette on dailies and more.
In this week’s Wired Gadget Lab podcast, Dylan Tweney, Daniel Dumas, and Jose Fermoso discuss the latest news on the Asus Eee Computer 900, which this week involves Asus shipping a souped-up battery in their review units, a move unappreciated by all readers who want real benchmarks and ‘unfixed’ reviews.
In addition, they’ll go over the release of the Optimus Maximus Keyboard on ThinkGeek.com (which caused a furor on this blog earlier this week), as well as the week’s top reviews, including the Kicker iPod Dock, the Tissot T-Touch Watch, and the Nokia N95. Finally, Dylan tries to convince the group (with blended results) that walking barefoot all the time is actually superior than wearing shoes. Turns out that you can only do this if you don’t live in an urban area, don’t work, and you really like antagonizing your friends.
Thank you for listening. Remember, you can subscribe to the podcast feed right here. And you can find the twenty-five previous podcasts after the jump.
The Podcast (above) requires Quicktime (you can download it at Apple’s page here).
IPhone Video Recorder, although crippled into uselessness in its free form, at least adds functionality that should have been in the iPhone from the beginning. The application uses the iPhone’s still camera to record video. The CPU overhead means that…
IPhone Video Recorder, even though crippled into uselessness in its free form, at least adds functionality that should have been in the iPhone from the beginning.
The application uses the iPhone’s still camera to record video. The CPU overhead means that recording and encoding video at the same time is too much for the little phone’s chip and frame rates drop. The solution is to record and then encode afterwards, and this creates admirably small files; around 60MB per for an hour’s worth of video (clip below).
Sound is recorded alongside the video, and the results need to be emailed to get them off the phone. The crippled functionality I mentioned? The free version will only record clips of up to 30 seconds. For more, you’ll need to spring for a $20 license. Normally this would be fine. We’re all for shareware (even if my blog editor Ecto swallowed the first version of this post) but right now iPhone apps run only on hacked hardware. Perhaps the developer, Dreamcatcher, will offer an official version for iPhone 2.0. By then, though, we’d anticipate Apple to be shipping a built in video camera app.
Sometimes, you really want to be the most annoying person around. And there’s no better way to do that than pumping out music from a ridiculous vest with built-in speakers. That’s exactly what the Soundwalk vest is. A vest not really your style? Well, luckily for you it comes in backpack and jacket varieties as well, ensuring that you’ll have a chance to blast Metal Machine Music at full volume and also have an outfit that’s well coordinated. [Gearlog]
Tissot T-Touch Watch Even a sparse description of the Tissot T-Touch Expert watch is enough to stimulate the pleasure center of the gadget geek’s brain. Packed into a dual analog/digital face, this wristwatch is literally a flotilla of functions. Just…
Tissot T-Touch Watch
Even a sparse description of the Tissot T-Touch Expert watch is enough to stimulate the pleasure center of the gadget geek’s brain. Packed into a dual analog/digital face, this wristwatch is literally a flotilla of functions. Just how many? Well if you were to purchase a separate gadget for everything it does, you’d wind up with a bill far, far higher than the T-Touch’s $1000 price tag.
So what exactly does it do? Well for starters, how about dual time zones, two alarms, and countdown chronographs? Okay, still not impressed? But how about adding a barometer, thermometer, perpetual calendar, compass, altimeter, and an azimuth (sort of a GPS system on your wrist). Oh what’s that? Getting gadget fever? Wait, we’re not done yet.
So what really makes this timekeeper (oh, right, it tells time, too) one-of-a-kind is how all these functions are activated: the face is a touch screen. By tapping on seven different points on the analog face the digital portion displays the results instantly. Of course to cram this type of instrumentation into a watch requires a certain amount of heft and the T-Touch does not disappoint, weighing in at over a quarter pound. Yes, it’s like wearing something with the same heft as a Royale with cheese on your wrist, but it’s not quite a Big Mac.
Rather, at a humongous, half-inch thick, it’s more like there’s a mini Massive Ben on your wrist. And programming the T-Touch’s ambitious functionality takes the same patience that would go into solving a Rubik’s Cube. But if you possess that patience, this just might be the best timekeeping, temperature sensing, direction finding, altitude detecting all-in-one wrist mounted wundergizmo .
It’s not the 3G iPhone, but Colorware’s Stealth iPhone trades in the silver trim and brushed metal back for an entirely matte black motif. It’s also extraordinarily costly, weighing in at $675 and $775 to the stock model’s $399 and $499. Colorware does throw in a matte black iPhone dock and pair of earbuds, but even that probably doesn’t justify the increased cost. Then again, some people really love black. [Colorware]
For a lot of people, the camera is more important than the photograph it takes. You’ve seen them, obsessively calibrating and posting endlessly on forums with questions about the bokeh of a Leica lens.
The 
The chowed down fish crowding the shot nearly gives a new meaning to “in the wild” photos, but I digress. Until now we’ve only seen the 
Although Paramount has taken longer to announce their Blu-ray slate than the 
Sometimes, you really want to be the most annoying person around. And there’s no better way to do that than pumping out music from a ridiculous vest with built-in speakers. That’s exactly what the Soundwalk vest is. A vest not really your style? Well, luckily for you it comes in backpack and jacket varieties as well, ensuring that you’ll have a chance to blast Metal Machine Music at full volume and also have an outfit that’s well coordinated. [
It’s not the 
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