| Spoiler alert: 'Cloverfield' lives up to the hype
After months of cryptic trailers and postmodern stealth hype, "Cloverfield" turns out to be almost comforting in its simplicity. It's a short, efficient, terrifying monster movie, no more and no less. It's also to New York City and the American psyche what "Godzilla" was to Tokyo: a cinematic fantasy response to unimaginable events. You get scared, you go home, you laugh it off. The real world should play so nice. The math is preposterously easy, actually: "Cloverfield" equals "Godzilla" divided by "The Blair Witch Project." (And if you want to know nothing more before buying a ticket, stop reading right now.) Told solely from the point of view of one digital video camera wielded by one young guy named Hud (T.J. Miller), the film records scenes from a seven-hour attack on Manhattan by a Giant Thing.
Find your Digital Rebel's inner Holga
If you love the look of pictures taken with the Holga —those cheap, plastic cameras made in China—but don't want to deal with the oh-so-last-century idea of film, check out Holgamods' Holga Body Cap. Randy Smith, the man behind Holgamods, has taken the lens off a stock Holga and grafted it onto a Canon body cap that fits all of the Canon D-SLRs, including the Digital Rebel series, the EOS 5D Digital, the new EOS 40D Digital, and even the top-of-the-line EOS-1Ds Mark III (it would probably fit any of the more modern Canon film cameras as well). The result is pure plastic goodness without the darkroom. Like the Lensbaby (another of our favorite toys), the Holga Body Cap isn't an automatic lens. You'll need to shoot in manual mode, and set the shutter speed accordingly, but it's a lot of fun, and you end up those dreamy, variable-focus images that tell everyone you're just a little bit off-kilter.
Keynote bloopers and practical jokes
Five weeks and a day from the time I'm typing this sentence, Steve Jobs will take the stage at the Moscone West expo hall to kickoff the 2008 Macworld Conference & Expo with his annual keynote. I think it's a pretty safe argument that Jobs' Expo keynote is the most anticipated event of the calendar year among Mac enthusiasts. And for good reason—in just one 90-minute-give-or-take speech, you get exciting revelations, carefully crafted showmanship, and (more often than not) a boatload of new product releases. You also get the occasional glitch or blunder. And now, thanks to an enterprising iMovie user and Web 2.0 technologies, you can relive those unscripted keynote moments that Apple would just as soon have you forget. The 4:40-second “Apple Keynote Bloopers" video— posted on YouTube and embedded below—is credited to Macintologist, and it's pretty much a collection of everything that can go wrong doing exactly that.
Quest for Knowledge
No tour would be complete without a visit to the beautifully renovated Coptic Museum (Tel: +2 (02) 362-8766), with its collection of manuscripts, icons, crosses, statues and mosaics rescued from ancient monasteries. While an impromptu walkabout of the area makes for a decidedly eye-opening experience, for a better informed tour, book with any of a number of agents specializing in pilgrimage holidays. South Sinai Egypt (Tel: +2 (02) 418-7310) organizes trips to Christian sites, perfect if you want to follow the trail of the Holy Family in Cairo. One of the most-visited stops on the trail is Mataria, where, it is believed, the Family rested beneath a balsam tree that is used to this day to prepare holy oil. There are also a museum and a Catholic Church with gorgeous paintings of the angel Gabriel appearing to Joseph.
Nursing home violence
No counselling for new residents to help them deal with the grief and loss that accompanies the relocation to a nursing home. It is deplorable that they room troubled seniors with others. Sadly, there comes a point for even the most self sufficient family when they are forced to place a loved one in care. When that time comes they should get care on par or better than what we provide for inmates. For all our seniors have given us, we should be providing decent, sufficient care for their final years. As a society, we owe them!!! For those that think they will have enough money to get great care for themselves, please think on the current state of the medical system. Even with the best plans in place, insufficient staff and lack of beds are having an impact right now on patient care.
Gadgets Attention Explorers: Garmin Debuts "iPhone-esque" GPS Nuvifone
Garmin has strongly trumpeted key features of the phone's strongest selling point -- its GPS capabilities. Videos and pictures you take will be geo-tagged with your coordinates, so that friends or would be stalkers who receive pictures from you can retrace your steps and see the same sites you did. The unit doubles as a car navigation unit, when you place it in a car mount. Better yet, when you take it off the mount it stores your vehicle's location. In crowded parking lots like a mall, this feature will help you never forget where you parked again. More snazzy GPS goodies include access to Garmin Online, which delivers a wealth of real-time information, much of it targeted and local, such as weather, gas prices, and local news. Millions of geo-marked landmark and sightseeing photographs can be accessed through a partnership with Google and its Panaramio service.
Whirlpool Shows 'Connected' Fridge At CES
We are proud to be back at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show with a diverse grocery list of new, soon-to-market partners," said Phil Pejovich, VP of Whirlpool Refrigeration, North America. "Depending on each family's needs, there is a Centralpark Connection device to help every Whirlpool brand consumer accomplish more with his or her day — from keeping photo displays fresh to organizing family activities." Details on the Centralpark Connection-compatible prototypes follow: Brandmotion iPod speaker system: Brandmotion, a current "Made for iPod" Apple licensee and authorized iPod accessory manufacturer, created a self-charging, high-quality iPod docking system with dual stereo speakers for use with the centralpark connection. The docking station is specifically designed for use in the kitchen with four large membrane-type buttons for easy use and cleanup.
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