Daily Archives: September 24, 2016





snapchat-spectacles Snapchat is the only company cool enough to possibly dismantle the Google Glass stigma. Awkward, useless, and a threat to privacy are how many think of computers you wear on your face. Can Snapchat show off the masterful marketing and smooth execution required to produce a product that won’t die on stores shelves or in a desk drawer? To quickly recount the basics, a video of… Read More

The hopes and headaches of Snapchat’s glasses


Lip Sync Battle The art of the lip sync has had a profound impact on the state of our…ok no, but dammit is lip synching fun. For those of you locked in a Faraday cage, pretending to sing has become all the rage these days. You have Michelle Obama doing it for Carpool Karaoke, Tim Cook using it to open up events, and of course the ever entertaining LL Cool J and Chrissy Teigen using it as a platform… Read More

Taking a swing for the Grammys with the new Lip ...



Telegram masks With what looks to be an eye on Snapchat’s selfie-loving fanbase, messaging platform Telegram has beefed up its in-app photo editor in what it dubs an “entertainment-heavy update” — including an option that lets users customize selfies by adding cartoon masks that automatically align on their faces. Read More

Messaging app Telegram adds selfie masks, DIY GIFs


Palmer Luckey It hasn’t been a great couple of days for Facebook PR. For one thing, the company admitted that, due to an error, it has been significantly inflating its reports on average video view times. For another, The Daily Beast discovered that Oculus founder Palmer Luckey is backing the pro-Donald Trump organization Nimble America, a group dedicated to promoting anti-Hillary Clinton… Read More

The ugly reality of an Oculus founder’s politics




This is a photo of a sunset over Cologne. It was taken on a mirrorless camera, copied using Wi-Fi to my smartphone, edited using Enlight, then shared to Instagram within a couple of minutes of being taken. If my camera didn't have Wi-Fi, it would probably still be sitting on a memory card somewhere. That would be sad. Let's talk about why. Spotted at Photokina, the world’s largest photography trade show: A professional photographer, taking a photo, then taking a picture off the back of their camera to share the photograph on Facebook. It’s not that unusual an occurrence, but it served as the perfect parable on quite how vigorously the camera manufacturers have self-copulated themselves into oblivion. Read More

Camera manufacturers, you’re still missing the point. Be better.



20160924-_dsc3356 There’s no denying that your smartphone’s camera is getting better and better for every generation, but what’s a poor photography nerd to do about controllability? Miggo’s Kickstarter-funded Pictar is shipping soon, and might be just the thing to teach your iPhone some additional photography skills. At Photokina, I had a chance to try it myself. Read More

Hands-on with Pictar, which adds buttons and wheels to your ...