Eye-Controlled Laptop and ‘Telepresence’ Robot Debut

The future is happening at CeBIT, the world’s top tech fair in Hanover, Germany.

 

THE GIST

• A laptop that allows users to open files, play music and view pictures using their eyes was on display.
• So was a humanoid robot that could transform business meetings and reduce the need for long-distance travel.

Billed as a global first, a laptop allowing users to open files, play music and view pictures using just the power of their eyes was turning heads Wednesday at the CeBIT, the world’s top tech fair.

The otherwise unremarkable laptop integrates cutting-edge “eye tracking” technology by Swedish firm Tobii that follows the movement of the user’s eyes and allows him or her to operate menus and select icons.

The prototype is also good for the environment as it recognizes when you are not looking at it and automatically goes into screen saver mode, saving energy, Tobii says. It restarts as soon as the user glances at the monitor again.

“It’s definitely going to be in the laptops of the future,” said Anders Olsson from Tobii. “You can do pretty much anything you would do with your normal laptop.

“We’ve been stuck for a quarter of a century with a keyboard and a mouse. It’s time to move to the next step and eye control technology is the perfect solution.”

The technology is already used in other areas, including in car safety where a sensor tracks eye movement to determine whether the driver is drowsy, and in helping paralyzed people operate everyday objects just with their eyes.

Read more over here: http://news.discovery.com/tech/eye-controlled-laptop-and-telepresence-robot-debut-110303.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1

Minimalism: Using Negative Space In Your Photographs

Sometimes it’s nice and refreshing to just strip a photo or scene down to it’s absolute bare essentials. Often times, I get too caught up in trying to fill every part of the frame with something interesting. The problem is, sometimes when we try to fill up the entire frame with objects, lines, people, shapes, etc, we actually overcomplicate things and leave the viewer wanting a place to rest their eyes.

The trick/secret is this: Negative space can be just as interesting in a photograph as anything else, if done right.

I encourage you to consider this the next time you go out shooting. Incorporating negative space into your images can be very rewarding, and at the same time quite challenging. Sometimes situations will present themselves where it’s clear. Other times you will have to get creative with a subject to find the proper framing to create this type of image. Here are a few examples of negative space and minimalism to get your creative juices flowing…

Image by Brian Matiash

 

In the above image, Brian Matiash actually set out to create a series of minimalistic, black and white images around Staten Island. This is just one image from that series. This is also a great example of successfully breaking the “rule” of photography about not placing your horizons in the center. Sometimes the composition of the image and the leading lines within the frame demand it. I believe that if Brian had composed the scene with less sky and more water, the reflections of the old pier would be complete in the scene, and he would lose that anchor to the bottom of the frame. On the flip side, if he had composed with more sky and less water, the image would lose interest by cutting out key parts of the reflection.

Image by Mike Olbinski

 

Read more: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/minimalism-using-negative-space-in-your-photographs#ixzz1FaGS2zUF

by James Brandon

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Free Slideshow Plugins For WordPress – Best of

via Hongkiat:

 

Slideshow is a brilliant method to stack and present series of items (such as images) in your website especially when space is a constraint. It is also commonly used by webmasters and bloggers to showcase portfolios, artwork, products, latest posts, etc. It saves time and efficiently draw visitors’ attention. In WordPress, installing and adding slideshow to posts can be done in a breeze, thanks to developers among the WordPress community. We’ve ran through all WordPress slideshow plug-ins we can possibly find and compiled this list of best and free WordPress slideshow plug-ins. We hope it will come in handy for you whenever you feels like putting up one. Full list after jump!

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/page-flip-image-gallery/

Image gallery with page flip effect.
http://pageflipgallery.com/online-demo/ |http://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/page-flip-image-gallery.0.5.12.5.zip

Featured Content Gallery

Creates an automated rotating image gallery of your posts or pages for use anywhere within your theme.
Demo | Download

kPicasa Gallery

Displays your Picasa Web Galleries in a post or in a page simply by creating a post or a page with a special keyword.
Demo | Download

Lightbox Gallery

Turns all gallery photos into lightbox view.
Demo | Download

Grand Flash Album Gallery

Full integrated (flash skin based, slideshow) Image Gallery plugin with a powerfull admin back end.
Demo | Download

For many more demo-galleries go over here: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/free-wordpress-slideshow-gallery-plugin/

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• 9 Must Have WordPress Plug-ins – Geek Savy (geeksavy.com)

Klipp Future Camera by Mac Funamizu

Mac Funamizu is back with a new concept.

 

Highly inspired by the WVIL concept camera demonstrated is CES 2011, Mac conceived of a similar device that looks smaller and thinner. Klipp, the future camera concept by Mac Funamizu is totally idyllic. The idea is pretty clear. The lens has a clip behind it so that you can place it over various places. The lens system is literally self-contained with all the necessary things required to take SLR high-quality photos. Regardless of where you clip it, the lens system sends the pictures to a hub device – a transparent screen, wirelessly.

Designer : Mac Funamizu

via: http://www.tuvie.com/klipp-future-camera-by-mac-funamizu/