Hi all,
Quick programming note: posting is going to be rather light on Crave starting Tuesday.
Many of us will be on vacation for the holidays for the next week and a half, so the normal font of gadgety goodness will at times seem like a trickle. But don't worry, someone will always be on duty over the holiday break and if there's big news, expect to find it here.
Happy holidays from all of us at Crave!
Editor's note: From now through the end of December, various Crave experts will be sharing their top five (mostly) tech-related wishes for the holiday season. See what we crave, and maybe you'll get some ideas!
I'll be honest. What I want is Canon's EF 500mm f/4L IS USM telephoto lens, but it costs $5,600, so let's move on to some options that aren't quite so detached from economic reality for a mostly amateur photographer such as myself.
Obviously my camera is a Canon SLR, but I'm reasonably happy with my setup right now, so here are some items I covet that are more modestly priced and that happen to be neutral as regards camera manufacturer.
1. WhiBal white-balance card. I shoot raw images, which means data is taken directly from the camera's image sensor without any in-camera processing. I like it because it gives me more flexibility for matters such as exposure adjustment. Second in importance to exposure, though, is fixing white balance--for example the orangey color cast you'll often see when shooting under incandescent lights or the bluish tinge of pictures in the shade.
The flip side of raw photography is that it's more manual labor than just grabbing the JPEG, but to me it's worth it. I mostly just eyeball the white balance, but sometimes keying off parts of an image--the whites of someone's eyes or gray and black clothing--gives an easier way to set white balance with software. But for more precision, the WhiBal cards from RawWorkflow.com give an easy way to be more rigorous. You take a photo of the durable card, which shows a standard 18 percent gray, then set the white balance in software off that part of the photo. With modern raw-image editing software, you can synchronize the white balance for a series of images off the one you took with the card. The $19 keychain model looks about my speed.… Read more
Clarification added December 30 (see text below).
For Googlers eagerly awaiting their famous holiday bonuses, be warned: Santa is tightening his belt too.
Google employees, some of whom have reportedly grown used to fairytale-like cash bonuses on the north side of $20,000, apparently got coal in their stockings this year. Certainly that's the takeaway for gossip blog Valleywag, which in a headline likened this year's bonus to "dogfood"--a euphemism for in-house testing--because Google would like some feedback. (Clarification: A few Google employees have contacted me to suggest that Valleywag's report on holiday bonus … Read more
This year The 404 decided to get something special for that special somebody: You! We'll be posting these 404 "mini-sodes" so you don't experience podcast withdrawal over the holiday break. In this first installment we talk about the year in games.
It's been a great year for gamers and we pick our faves over the past 365 days. We also take it back to 1998, ten years ago, and discuss that classic year in gaming history while roasting marshmallows over our yule log.
So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Kick-butt Kwanzaa and Fantastic Festivus. This year, give the gift of 404 and make sure to follow-up that gift with a gift of clean underpants. Who loves ya? The 404 loves ya.
Yuletide Mini-sode One Download today's podcast … Read moreEditor's note: From now through the end of December, various Crave experts will be sharing their top five (mostly) tech-related wishes for the holiday season. See what we crave, and maybe you'll get some ideas!
1. iRobot Roomba. Yeah sure, these things have been around for years now, but I'm not the type of person who jumps all over new technology as soon as it's available. For me, there needs to be a necessity. Case in point, my new DVR. I mean, look at my face in that pic. It's the kind of face that causes you to think, "How could someone over the age of 20 and under the age of 60 be that excited about a DVR in 2008?" And yet, there I am. It wasn't until I determined that a DVR was necessary for me to feel better about myself as a human that I got one.
Recently, my girlfriend and I got two black cats that shed. A lot. They also track tons of litter around the house. I'd prefer not to vacuum. I thought, "Do I have any young desperate relatives that I could pay 5 cents a week to come clean my house?" When that fell through, I thought, "Robots."
2. A Men's Health subscription that doesn't suck. Not exactly tech related, but it needs to be said. I love reading this magazine. Sure, they recycle a lot of the stories and workouts from previous issues, but I can always find one or two things in each issue that are useful.
If you've ever had a subscription to Men's Health, you know it does not come without strings attached. These strings assume the form of "free" books that they send you. Now, there is sometimes some new and useful information in them. That's not the problem. The problem is that they send you these at their own discretion and usually accompanied by a letter telling you how excited you should be that you have access to this free book for the next 10 days. If you're unsatisfied, send it back within the 10 days at no charge and you're done. If you keep it beyond the trial, you'll be charged.
This is a trap, plain and simple. They know most guys aren't going to bother going through the trouble of sending this thing back. They'll either keep it out of laziness (like me) or actually find a reason inside the book--probably a flimsy one--to justify keeping it. So yes, my Men's Health subscription sucks because I am lazy.
3. Video card upgrade. OK, I currently own an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS. While a year or so ago this would have been pushing the cutting edge, it's now yesterday's news, a card that drops as low as 10 frames per second at peak times in Dalaran in Wrath of the Lich King. That is unacceptable. I'm not even sure the last time I've seen anything near a steady 60 fps. … Read more
Editor's note: From now through the end of December, various Crave experts will be sharing their top five (mostly) tech-related wishes for the holiday season. See what we crave, and maybe you'll get some ideas!
1. Guitar Hero World Tour/Rock Band 2 (full band set). This is fairly self-explanatory. Sometimes sitting around playing a video game is just too sedentary. These games will have me rocking out with my stocking out not just on the fake guitar, but on fake drums, too.
The pretty extensive track list will keep me going for a while, and then there's all the downloadable content after I've finished. While I doubt they'll ever offer certain songs in my personal music collection ("The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" as performed by Leonard Nimoy), there are enough songs I like to make it worthwhile. Plus, everyone looks cool playing it, right?
2. Plush gonorrhea. Enough people get The Clapper for Christmas; why not get The Clap instead? The plush version. There are actually a menagerie of plush microbes you can get, but how often can you tell people you were happy to get gonorrhea for Christmas? Sober, anyway.
3. Digital Diamond game by Tomy. My uncle had this handheld electronic game back in the day, and I played it as often as I could sneak it away from him. It's primitive, loud, and kinda cheesy, but I've already written about my weakness for old-school electronic toys.
It's only electric in that it lights up; the main gameplay is mechanical, hence the noise. I was, believe it or not, not a great sportsman as a kid, but I had a lot of fun playing baseball with this toy. … Read more
Laptop-related repetitive-strain digit injuries have nothing on this.
It appears that the latest technology that is maiming society is the wonderfully engaging Wii.
Yes, the medical profession is adopting the brace position in expectation of Wii-aggravated knees, elbows, backs, fingers, and thumbs this holiday season. All fueled by humanity's obsessive need to gift and conquer.
Deep-thinking medicos at Leeds Teaching Hospital in the U.K. have already identified a condition they call "Wii knees."
And doctors from all over the Kingdom have claimed they are recognizing injuries that they themselves have sustained in an effort to keep … Read more
Editor's note: From now through the end of December, various Crave experts will be sharing their top five (mostly) tech-related wishes for the holiday season. See what we crave, and maybe you'll get some ideas!
1. Cheap storage. I've run out of room for all the photos, music, audio books, and videos I've amassed. I don't need to stream wirelessly or transfer data quickly. I just need a place to throw all those episodes of Spain...On the Road Again that I paid for so might as well keep. For my simple needs, the Western Digital My Book Edition (2TB) external 2-terabyte hard drive looks good. With Raid 0 and 1 support, I can set it up to mirror--use each terabyte to store my stuff in duplicate. Once I fill a terabyte, I can switch to using it as a straight 2-terabyte hard drive. It doesn't have Firewire, but a USB 2.0 connection is fine if it means getting 2 terabytes of storage for about $250.
2. Compact camera. I'm in the opposite boat as Dujmovic. I've been whooping it up with my Canon Rebel XT (literally running out of wall space for my large frame photos). Now I need to replace my elderly Canon PowerShot S100 Digital Elph (only 2.1 megapixels and a tiny 1.5-inch screen). I want a sleek ultracompact with at least 7 megapixels, a 3-inch screen, and video. I'd like the Nikon Coolpix S60, or the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T70 or DSC-W130. If it's on sale, the 10-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700 that comes with 4GB of built-in storage and a cool brushed stainless look would be even better.
3. Donations to Room to Read. While I crave more room in my life for time to read books, others crave the books themselves. A former Microsoft executive left his Redmond life to do something about that. Room to Read is an education-focused charity that helps communities build libraries, schools, local language publishing firms for children's books, computer labs, and scholarship funds. You can choose which country and project you want your money to support.
According to Room to Read, 86 percent of your money goes straight to projects in need. The organization has also been a Motley Fool charity pick for its "long-term, sustainable goals, and transparent, sound finances." … Read more
Editors' note: From now through the end of December, various Crave editors will be sharing their top five (mostly) tech-related wishes for the holiday season. See what we crave, and maybe you'll get some ideas!
1. An entirely wired tiny home. Have you heard about the tiny home movement? Basically, people are buying these storage containers-cum-homes and living in them. (Local San Francisco company--and, incidentally, my neighbor--Modern Cabana makes some beauties.) The movement is about downsizing to the bare essentials. Now, I'm all for decluttering, and I totally agree that I don't need many square feet in which to exist comfortably, but what I do need are three things: wireless Internet, a ton of television channels, and an HD TiVo.
So Santa or kindly benefactor, I would like, first, a large swath of land on the West Coast (easy, right?), and second, a tiny home (equipped with these three comforts) plopped right in the middle of it. Then I and my pet-sitting robot (see below) can live in peace and quiet, while the cats roam around our vast property, hunting down vermin.
2. A robotic cat-sitter. Do you know how much an in-home, human cat-sitter (who visits just to feed, water, and scoop your cats' litter) costs? A ton. Average where I live: 30 bucks a visit. But on the other hand, do you know how indebted to your friends and neighbors you'll be if you cajole them into watching your animals? Try a few nice dinners, a bottle of champagne, and the use of your car when they need to pick up something they bought on Craigslist, i.e. shove a couch into your Honda Accord.
So, for Christmas (and preferably before Christmas, so I can take advantage of it this vacation season), I want a robotic cat-sitter. Ideally, it would provide not only food, water, and litter box cleaning, but also love, cuddles, and a steady stream of water to spray at the little rascals when they lounge on the dining table. I'm thinking something Jetsons-esque; something with attitude that my cats can grow to love and respect, so that they don't see my leaving for a few days as an opportunity to shred the curtains and drink out of the toilet.
Maybe its feet could be a Roomba, and while it's chasing the cats (or giving them a ride), it can clean the floor! Shablam! Someone make this please. … Read more
Nothing brings out the holiday spirit better than music. Whether it's Vince Guaraldi's "The Christmas Song," Elvis Presley's "Santa Claus Is Back In Town," or Snoop Dogg's "Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto," everybody has that certain song that epitomizes the holidays. Once the holidays are over, though, it's time to pack away the decorations, hide the tacky lawn ornaments, and take your holiday music out of rotation until next December.
That last part, the part about packing away the holiday tunes, has become harder to accomplish in the digital age. Before the dawn of the MP3, you could just dump your records, tapes, or CDs in the same garage-bound box as your ornaments and wrapping paper. In the days of iTunes, however, your imported songs tend to stick around. Next thing you know, it's August, you're at the gym listening to your iPod Shuffle, and "Jingle Bell Rock" hits you like a fart in a spacesuit.
So how do you store a digital holiday music library that can play from your home computer, while keeping it quarantined from the music you want to hear the other 11 months of the year? I've rounded up a few of my favorite techniques. Feel free to add your own suggestions at the end.… Read more
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Christina Milian and the gadgets she loves
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