Selfie in Motion

Donut Selfie it involves using panoramic video shots of your head to create a seamless selfie that travels across different locations. The technique was created by ex-Microsoft employee Karen Cheng while she was experimenting with sweeping camera motions. The social media star has since released a video that shows the camera spinning around her head, with the scenery changing each time from her workplace, to a train station and even her bed. Ms Cheng explains that you can create your own doughnut selfie using the front-facing camera on a smartphone. Starting from one side of your temple, arc the phone around your head, across your face and to the other side, while capturing scenery in the background. This gives the impression to viewers that they are passing through a subject’s head and arriving in a different location each time, said Ms Cheng.The process can be repeated as many times as needed and in as many like as you’d like, with the clips edited together using an app. Ms Cheng, who is based in San Francisco, created her video using an iPhone and edited it with iMovie. She has put together a three-part tutorial as part of a dedicated website describing the technique.
Part One Tutorial
Part Two Tutorial
Part Three Tutorial

Animation Using Office Supplies Only

A GIRL NAMED ELASTIKA from Guillaume Blanchet I Filmmaker on Vimeo.
Canadian-based film-maker Guillaume Blanchet has produced a short film which takes us through the adventures of Elastika - a girl crafted entirely out of elastic bands and thumbtacks. The charming three and a half minute stop-motion animation was created using everyday office supplies and takes place on a cork board - a deceptively intricate project that took Mr Blanchet nine months to complete. A Girl Named Elastika, which has won awards, follows the fearless character on an epic voyage around the world, set to the tune of a catchy soundtrack. The plucky character crosses oceans, stops by Paris's Eiffel Tower and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, passes through a casino and a magical firework display, and even explodes into space - all built with the very simplest of office staples. Her mode of transport morphs from a car to a boat to a spaceship, and finally a colorful bunch of balloons which carry her gracefully to the moon. The short film made its debut on Vimeo last week and has gained over 4,000 'likes' already.

 

Now, ‘Video Chat’ With The Dead

Eterni.me new technology reportedly allows people to make themselves virtually immortal and comfort their loved ones after their death.
Washington: A new website creates virtual avatars of the dead so that their loved ones can video chat with them after they are gone. The website, Eterni.me, is a startup by engineers, designers and business people, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) entrepreneurship development programme. The team claims to have developed a means by which a person can be digitally reconstructed after death. The service needs to be provided with a person’s chat logs, social network information, photographs and emails, and it uses this information to reconstruct a person’s memories and mannerisms, CNET reported.
“Eterni.me collects almost everything that you create during your lifetime, and then processeses this huge amount of information using complex artificial intelligence algorithms,” the website said. “Then it generates a virtual you, an avatar that emulates your personality and can interact with, offer information and advice to your family and friends after you pass away. It’s like a Skype chat from the past,” it said.

 

Virtual Mannequin Solves Online Shopping Problems

Fits.me A new virtual mannequin that can alter its shape to any set of measurements is set to fix online shopping's sizing problem for good. Retailers like Adidas, Nicole Fahri and Hugo Boss have already enlisted the online Fits.me mannequin, which allows customers to enter their own dimensions and see what a specific item of clothing will look like on their body shape.

Developed by the University of Tartu in Estonia, researchers enlisted the help of Human Solutions, a German firm specializing in body dimensions and ergonomic simulation, to develop a database of thousands of combinations of hip width, chest diameter, sleeve length, and waist size.
Retailers who have joined forces with the virtual mannequin simply ship samples of their clothing collections to the Fits.me studio in London, where staff photograph each item on the shape-altering mannequin. Photographed several thousand times as they morph through thousands of permutations of size and shape, Fits.me creates a comprehensive image database for each item of clothing. And each image in the database comes with the precise dimensions of the mannequin. When an online shopper goes to Adidas.com, for example, they simply plug in their own measurements to see any piece of clothing on their own body shape.
And if the shopper doesn’t know their measurements, they can enter their height, weight, age and body shape; the virtual mannequin is then able to calculate the remaining measurements needed to accurately determine fit.
And what if you like to wear your clothes baggy, or perhaps prefer a slim fit. The mannequin's Fit Advisor can also ask the online shopper a few key body measurements before determining whether they usually wear their clothes tight, or with a ‘regular’ or 'loose' fit.

Avatar software mimics facial expressions to transform you over Skype

Facerig Software captures facial expressions using an ordinary webcam and reproduces them instantly on the face of a chosen character. The software is set to be released before August this year for as little as $5 (£3) for early adopters, although the price will rise as the programme becomes more sophisticated.. Future versions of the software could track a person's body movements and even brainwaves to gauge and communicate a user's excitement. It will be able to be used with Skype or any other webcam service when it is released.

HOW FACERIG SOFTWARE WORKS The software tracks a person’s expressions and head movements. It extracts tracked data to apply the animation on a 3D model that a user has selected in realtime. The software uses a normal webcam and can work alongside video chat services such as Skype as well as in web cast games. Users can alter the sound of their voice and even use a karaoke mode. People can change the way their avatar is lit as well as any props they might carry. They can choose characters including a Japanese school girl, a horned demon and a red panda.

Real People Photo into 3D Printed Replica

Captured Dimensions state-of-the-art 3D Scanning and 3D Printing capabilities allow the digitization or replication of nearly anything without Photoshop in their Innovative Studios with Dome of Cameras.

After surrounding the subject in a dome of 60 to 80 DSLR cameras, they are then triggered to take a picture simultaneously, creating a complete 360 degree image. Using a 'sandstone printing method' the printer lays down a fine layer of gypsum powder, also known as calcium sulphate, to which a binding agent and dye is added. This process is then repeated thousands of times to construct the lifelike models.
3D printing service 'Captured Dimensions' based in Texas, USA, is offering a far less questionable service, however, for those who want to see what they look like to others.

Captured: After surrounding the subject in a dome of 60 to 80 DSLR cameras, printing specialists then trigger the cameras simultaneously, creating a complete 360 degree image

Final product: Using a 'sandstone printing method' the printer lays down a fine layer of gypsum powder, also known as calcium sulphate, to which a binding agent and dye is added

Affordable On Demand CRM Software

ZOHO is a suite of online applications (services) that needs sign up for and access from the website. The applications are free for individuals and some have a subscription fee for organizations. It allows people to work on spreadsheets, text and presentation documents online on their software interface. The software is simple and easy to learn especially if you have used similar utilities before.While using Zoho users documents and data are securely stored online on the servers and can be accessed from anywhere.

This video explains the technical specifications of the Zoho Creator - Zoho CRM integration.

Mobile Friendly Wikipedia QR codes

QRpedia is a free Web site that lets you share Wikipedia links in a mobile friendly format using QR barcodes.

Touchable 3D Character

Reach out and touch 3D characters with RePro3D
here is now a way to reach out and touch those three dimensional gaming characters, thanks to a device called RePro3D made by Japanese researchers from the Keio University.
The system consists of a glassesfree 3D parallax screen which lets users see and “touch” characters on the screen. Parallax is the effect where the position or direction of an object appears to differ when viewed from different or angles.
The “touch” doesn’t let you physically touch the character rather fools you in to thinking that you have physically interacted with the object.
To achieve the illusion the input interface uses an infrared camera to recognise the movements of the user’s hand, and the character on screen reacts to the movements instantly.
They are currently developing a system which can replicate the sensation of directly touching the image by having the user wear a tactile feedback device on their finger.

Outer Space Flights Videos and Pictures

Space gives the latest discoveries and missions to space. The site also boasts of several fun things to do like outer space flights videos and pictures, which is a treat to watch.

Hubble Site satiates curiosity of ours about space. Besides a section on the various images taken by the Hubble telescope, the site also has other sections such as news, discoveries, education, fun, etc.

Micro-robots pick up a glass bead

Physicists at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Lab, have coaxed “micro-robots” to do their bidding. The robots, just half a millimeter wide, are composed of microparticles. Confined between two liquids, they assemble themselves into star shapes when an alternating magnetic field is applied.
The scientists Alexey Snezhko and Igor Aronson can control the robots’ movement and even make them pick up, transport and put down other non-magnetic particles – potentially enabling fabrication of precisely designed functional materials in ways not currently possible.
HOW THEY DID IT
This was made possible by suspending the tiny ferromagnetic particles between two layers of immiscible, or non-mixing, fluids. Without a magnetic field, the particles drift aimlessly or clamp together. But when an alternating magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the liquid surface, they self-assemble into spiky circular shapes that the scientists nicknamed “asters”, after the flower.

Make your online mobile business card

Business Card 2 Tag Print the QR Code on your 'offline' business card. Customers scan your QR Code on the business card with their mobile device. Then your online buisiness card will be opened on their mobile device, The customer can direct call, mail, and save your business card to their contacts.

Image from Card Observer which is Business Card Design Gallery.

Learn How To Use Digital SLR Camera

Camera Sim Learn how to use a digital SLR camera without actually buying one with this simple online simulation.

Listen SMS or Email while Driving

Drive Safely application reads out text messages and emails aloud so you can concentrate on the road. The program does not slow down your phone and you can customise an auto-response message.
The application is only for Blackberry devices and is available for free from Blackberry app world. If your phone has a barcode scanner you can use the QR code to download the app directly to your device.

Mobile Comic Viewer

Droid Comic Viewer This application features an innovative way to read comic books on the go using your humble cellphone. The software can read several types of files including cbr/rar, JPG and BMP. The app is for devices running Android OS and is available for free from Android Market. If your phone has a barcode scanner you can use the QR code to download the app

Tech or Product Problem Support and Repair Solutions

FixYa solutions for everything. It is a place where individuals can share real world experience and connect to provide each other practical advice. From fixing cars, to cameras, to iPhones, FixYans are part of a DIY revolution that helps empower techies, tinkerers and hobbyists across the globe. They have launched their Beta version Beta.FixYa also.

PC Pitstop Free PC Scans and tune-up Utilities. This is a resource that helps people diagnose and fine-tune their PCs. The site is full of online diagnostic tools which quickly and automatically diagnose most common PC ailments.

Turn your Web Cam Into Surveillance Tool

Sensr Turn your Web camera in to a surveillance tool that can be accessed from anywhere at anytime using your browser.

Train Parents Technology

Teach Parents Tech Are your parents technically challenged? Then you need to send them a tutorial from this site meant to train parents in the ways of technology.

Photoshop, Flash, Excel Tutorials and more

911 Tutorials hosts a large collection of software tutorials, for both beginners as well as advanced users. Categories include 2D and 3D graphics,Web design and development, video editing, desktop applications, operating systems and much, much more.

Windows Drivers Downloads

No Ddevice is a large collection of drivers for various devices such as printers, video cards, phones, etc, and all of them sorted according to the device type or brand name. If you can’t find the driver you’re looking for, then simply file a request and the site owners promise to track it down for you.