TED Talk: Photography connects us with the world

David Griffin: Photography connects us with the world

SLR camera shoots high-def movies, too

When I first got my Canon 5D DSLR I was disappointed to discover that it couldn't shoot video. Why could my $750 Panasonic LX1 with Leica lens shoot 640 x 480 video at 30 frames-per-second, but my $2500 Canon can't I wondered.

Enter the Nikon D90



New Nikon SLR camera shoots high-def movies, too
By PETER SVENSSON – 1 hour ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Nikon Corp. on Wednesday launched the first digital still camera with interchangeable lenses that also shoots movies.

The D90 single-lens reflex camera, or SLR, takes 12.3 megapixel stills, but can also shoot movies in the high-definition 720p format. It will be available in September for $1,000 without a lens.

Compared to a consumer digital movie camera, the D90 will provide extra versatility for a videographer, since different lenses have different looks and applications.

iZotope iDrum for iPhone and iPod Touch

The folks at iZotope put together a rather smart rhythm step-sequencer for the iPhone/Touch device. Hone your beatmaking while on the go. Only $4.99 in the App Store. Demo video available here.

I wonder if Nintendo will ever open up a dev kit for the DS?

Anti-Evolutionist

Image found in the appendix of Marvin Minsky's Society of Mind

Tell It to Judge, and Photographer

NYT spotlight on Steven Hirsch, the photographer behind Courthouse Confessions

Video link here

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Tokyo Koenji Awaodori Dance Festival

Upcoming shooting opportunity

Tokyo Koenji Awaodori Dance Festival is held annually on the last Saturday and Sunday of August.

http://www.koenji-awaodori.com/indexEn.html

Tokyo Koenji Awaodori Festival was first held in 1957 and celebrated the 50th anniversary in 2006. As the festival developed into a huge event, the number of visitors has also grown significantly from the original few thousands into 1.2 million.

Photography as a Weapon

NYT article on photography by Errol Morris

Photography as a Weapon

Baghdad 5 years on

A Guardian journalist returns home to Iraq to find that far from what we hear in the US, the surge has produced nothing approaching normalcy or peace, but rather ghettos seething with violence, with nothing but makeshift walls dividing the increasingly hostile warring factions.

US claims that the military surge is bringing stability to Iraq. By traveling through the heart of Baghdad its easy to see by enclosing the Sunni and Shia populations behind 12ft walls, the surge has left the city more divided and desperate than ever.”

Check out parts 2 and 3 of this very candid view of Iraq:

Baghdad, 5 years on (part 2 of 3): killing fields

Baghdad 5 years on (part 3): Iraq’s lost generation

Pilobolus on Conan O’Brien

Tough Choices: How Making Decisions Tires Your Brain

Any self-reflective person understands that attention and concentration are limited resources. It's as if some chemical is metabolized when we engage in focused concentration and eventually this chemcial gets used up requiring a break--or sleep--before we can continue. But according to this fascinating Scientific American article, research suggests that making choices also appears to deplete executive resources.

These experimental insights suggest that the brain works like a muscle: when depleted, it becomes less effective. Furthermore, we should take this knowledge into account when making decisions. If we've just spent lots of time focusing on a particular task, exercising self-control or even if we've just made lots of seemingly minor choices, then we probably shouldn't try to make a major decision. These deleterious carryover effects from a tired brain may have a strong shaping effect on our lives.

Helps explain why shopping for clothes can leave you feeling so mentally drained, why longer meetings accomplish less, and what leads us to procrastinate imporatant work by indulging in frivolous entertainment.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=tough-choices-how-making

Feds can search laptops without reason at airports

Feds can search laptops without reason at airports
By ELLEN NAKASHIMA Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

...The policies cover "any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form," including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover "all papers and other written documentation," including books, pamphlets and "written materials commonly referred to as 'pocket trash' or 'pocket litter.' "


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5918770.html