Pixel atrocities

Photoshop Disasters reports: [edited]

Have you seen a truly awful piece of Photoshop work? Perhaps those idiots you work with have done something regrettable? Perhaps your competitors? If it is commercial and awful then please let us know!
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Three short books by Paul Arden

Paul Arden spent 14 years as the Executive Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi. He was responsible for some of the UK's most successful advertising campaigns – British Airways, Silk Cut, Anchor Butter, InterCity and Fuji.

He has published three books. All of them have lots of pictures and not many words.

His first book was 'It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be' (artfully subtitled 'The world's best-selling book by Paul Arden'). It is a compendium of Mr Arden's thoughts and suggestions based on his life-experience in the 'creative' world.

His thoughts are not always deep, but they are usually provoking. He starts off with 'Set your goals high and aim beyond what you believe you are capable of', moving on to 'Don't seek praise. Seek criticism', and possibly his most profound (and contentious) offering 'Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you'.

I can guarantee you won't like all of it, but am equally sure that it will challenge you to think more about how you approach your life.

'Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite' is an excellent 'rut-busting' book'. Not much of it is original, but it's worth it just or some of the examples of 'wrong' decisions that have ended up with right outcomes. Good toilet-reading.

'God Explained In A Taxi Ride' is an excellent example of how people should stick to what they do best. This mini-tome addresses some of the metaphysical questions that humans have asked since pre-history, especially our relationship to the 'divine'. His questions are good, but the conclusions are neither original or profound.
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London, Lincoln, London 09-03-08

LONDON to LINCOLN
Spinning Around the Sun - Martina Sorbara
Can You Dig It - The Mock Turtles
You've Been Cheatin' - The Impressions
Is This The Way To Amarillo - Peter Kay (Max & Paddy)
Spanish Stroll - Mink DeVille
Billy Don't Be A Hero - Paper Lace
Shock The Monkey - Peter Gabriel
You Said - Madness
Rapture - iiO
Move It Like This - Baha Men
Running Out of Time - Hot Hot Heat
Stella - Ida Maria
There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards - Ian Dury & The Blockheads
Bleed American - Jimmy Eat World
Happy - Victoria Williams
sugah - Ruby Amanfu
Rhythm of the night - Corona
Do The Hucklebuck - Coast to Coast
If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself) - Pete Droge & The Sinners
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Dwight Yoakam
I Wanna Dance with somebody - Whitney Houston
Shine A Little Love - Electric Light Orchestra
Slung-lo - Erin McKeown
Forever Lost - The Magic Numbers
Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
1985 - Bowling For Soup
My Give A Damn's Busted - Jo Dee Messina
One Fine Day - The Shirelles
I Wish I Could Fly (Orville's Song) - Keith Harris & Orville
Waiting For A Star To Fall - Boy Meets Girl
Who Knows - Avril Lavigne
Airport - The Motors
C'Mon C'Mon - The Von Bondies
Running In The Family - Level 42
Strong Enough - Cher
Red Dirt Road - Brooks And Dunn
This Kiss - Faith Hill
Cracklin Rose - Neil Diamond
That's The Way - Jo Dee Messina
Country Girl - Primal Scream
The Yodeling Ghost - Andrews Sisters & Bing Crosby
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On The Bedpost Overnight) - Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group
What Time Is Love - KLF
Take On Me - Reel Big Fish
Heat Wave - The Jam
That’ll Be the Day - Buddy Holly
One Step Beyond - Madness
Jeans on - David Dundas

LINCOLN to LONDON
999 Buttons - Back Ted N-Ted
Deja Vu: (If God Is My Father) - Larry Norman
Jesus Was Here On Business - Rev. Johnny Blakey
Mozambique - Bob Dylan
Hercules - World Party
Poor Poor Pitiful Me - Warren Zevon
Somebody Touched Me - Bruce Cockburn
Float On - Floaters
Brimstone Rock - 16 Horsepower
No Need To Cry - Neko Case And Her Boyfriends
Happy Birthday - Pizzicato Five
Amateur Hour (remix) - Sparks
Kansas City - Fats Domino
Good Company - Queen
The Twist - Chubby Checker
Hip Hip Hip Hurrah - Claude Francois
On My Radio - The Selecter
Video Killed The Radio Star - Erasure
Dancing In The Moonlight - David Kitt
Let Mercy Lead - Rich Mullins
The Kiss - Judee Sill
The Fly - David Axelrod
we are money money - Money Money
Arms Aloft - Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros
Downward Road - Pops Staples
Blinking Lights (For You) - Eels
Desire As - Prefab Sprout
Something About What Happens When We Talk - Lucinda Williams
Live Is Life - Opus
Just Like Everyman - Jeff Finlin
She Makes My Day - Robert Palmer
Million Miles Away - The Offspring
Come Down - Kevin Prosch
Golden Autumn Day - Van Morrison
'Til I Gain Control Again - Rodney Crowell
Atmosphere - Joy Division
Red Rover - Rosie Thomas
Foxey Lady - Cee-Lo
Paraphrase (Instrumental) - Yngwie Malmsteen
Sorted for Es & Wizz - Pulp
London Girls - Chas 'N' Dave
Almost Fed Up With the Blues - John Hiatt
The KKK Took My Baby Away - Ramones
The High Road - Bettye Lavette
End Of the Summer (live) - Dar Williams
Yet Still This Will Be - Martyn Joseph
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Flickriver

Flickriver is: [edited]

Flickriver is an new way to explore and view Flickr photographs.

Flickriver enhances your photo browsing experience in several ways:

River of photos - the photographs are always displayed as one continuous stream - you can view thousands of photos without ever needing to hit 'next' and waiting for the next page to load! This is also known as "infinite scroll".

User most interesting photos - see other people's photos ordered by interestingness

Photos of user's contacts - see recent photos from contacts of any user
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ATV to launch on Sunday

BBC reports: [edited]

Europe is set to launch the biggest, most sophisticated spacecraft in its history. The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is an unmanned ship that can carry up to 7.6 tonnes of supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). Its other primary role is to push the orbiting outpost higher into the sky to keep it from falling back to Earth.

The ATV will launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana at 0403 GMT on Sunday. The vehicle has been dubbed 'Jules Verne' and will weigh some 20 tonnes at launch. The Ariane 5 has had to be specially strengthened for the task.
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London, Lincoln, London 08-03-08

LONDON to LINCOLN
54-46 Was My Number - Toots & The Maytals
Jesse With The Long Hair - Robert Earl Keen
Baby Genius - Eels
Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing - Minutemen
I'll Just Pretend - Mandy Barnett
The Inch - Peaches
It's Alright (Guvnor Mix) - East 17
I'll Fly Away - Johnny Cash
In My Time Of Dying - The Be Good Tanyas
You Hit Me Like TNT - Linda Jones
A-Hunting We Will Go - Hem
Startup Chime - Ladytron
Homeless - Ladysmith Black Mambazo
More Not More - Bruce Cockburn
Court And Spark - Joni Mitchell
Back To The Start - Razorlight
Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac
Oh, What A Dream - Johnny Cash
Who's Killing Who? - The Chords
Do You Love Me - The Contours
Because The Night - Patti Smith
Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard - Paul Simon
You Gotta Be - Desree
Our Last Summer - ABBA
Unbroken - Missy Higgins
Comatised - Leona Naess
Take On Me - Reel Big Fish
Texarkana - R.E.M.
Beautiful Day Without You - Röyksopp
Spinning Around the Sun - Martina Sorbara
The Boy In The Bubble - Paul Simon
Disconnected - Idlewild
Please Please Please - Fiona Apple
Shimmer - Shawn Mullins
One Two Brown Eyes - Them
Change of Heart - Cyndi Lauper
Come And Get It - Badfinger
The Meaning Of Love - Depeche Mode
Choir - Malcolm Middleton
Just Like A Pill - P!nk (Pink)
The Girl I Knew Somewhere - The Monkees
Understand - Andy White
Egg Suckin Dog - Flametrick Subs w/ Satan's Che
Drivin' Across America - Mark Germino
I Can't Break The News To Myself - Ben E. King

LINCOLN to LONDON
The Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley
Roxanne - The Police
Get What You Want - Operator Please
What A Day For A Daydream - Lovin' Spoonful
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1 - The Flaming Lips
Ready for the Floor - Hot Chip
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
Blood Sugar - Pendulum
Romeo and Juliet - Toy Box
Back in Black - AC/DC
Feel Good Inc (Single Edit) - Gorillaz
Ne-Ne, Na-Na, Na-Na, Nu-Nu - Bad Manners
Boy From New York City - Manhattan Transfer
Joe Le Taxi - Vanessa Paradis
Battleship Chains (Kick 'n' Lick Remix) - The Georgia Satellites
The Joker - Fatboy Slim
Come Back And Shake Me - Clodagh Rogers
Run (Radio Edit) - Gnarls Barkley
Tell That Girl To Shut Up - Transvision Vamp
Who Were You With In The Moonlight - Dollar
Brand New Lover - Dead Or Alive
Brrrlak - Zap Mama
She's So Cool - Catherine Porter
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
Screamager - Therapy?
My Sharona (ext) - The Knack
Misfit - Amy Studt
Ghosts - Laura Marling
Don't Leave Me This Way - Communards (Featuring Sarah Jane Morris)
Tokyo Moon - Windmill
Rubber Biscuit - The Chips
My Toot Toot - Denise Lasalle
Davy's On The Road Again - Manfred Mann
Saturday Girl - The Feds
Camouflage - Stan Ridgeway
Keep On Running - The Spencer Davis Group
This Is a Call - Foo Fighters
Hang The DJ - The Smiths
Bouncy Ball (Single Version) - Ladyfuzz
Nasty Nasty - 999
Hi Jo Hi - Deaf School
Beg Your Pardon - Kon Kan
Baby Love - Diana Ross (With the Supremes)
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GM M500 Watch Phone

Mobileburn reports: [edited]

General Mobile's M500 uses a 1.5" OLED touchscreen display alongside Bluetooth. Tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900MHz) is also on-board with data coming across a GPRS connection.

The M500 also features several organizer applications such as a world clock, calendar, and stopwatch. There is 128MB of internal storage space and the M500 charges through a USB port.

Availability and pricing TBA.
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iPhone Software Developer Kit released

Apple has released a range of software that will allow software developers to create and sell programs for the iPhone and iPod touch.

One of the most significant aspects is support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide secure push email, contacts and calendars as well as remote wipe, and the addition of Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to private corporate networks. It will be interesting to see how this affects uptake of the iPhone in corporate market sectors.

The software also provides new Mail features such as the ability to view PowerPoint attachments, in addition to Word and Excel, as well as the ability to mass delete and move email messages.

However, the most important announcement (for one member of my family at least) is that Spore will be released for the iPhone in September.
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You knew it already, but...

Wired reports: [edited]

Americans say they would have more trouble giving up a cell phone than a traditional phone, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said in a report Wednesday. Less than two years earlier, respondents still considered their landlines the most crucial technology.

"The preferences have flipped," said John Horrigan, author of the new Pew report. "During that timeframe, people have purchased new devices that have more capabilities. People have more experience using cell phones for text messaging and other information tools."

According to Pew, the cell phone is the technological tool its users would have most difficulty giving up, followed by the Internet and television. Landline phones ranked fourth in the latest survey, just above e-mail.
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Internet Explorer 8 beta released

Microsoft reports: [edited]

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 is a (PC-only) developer preview for web designers and developers to help prepare their websites for the launch of Internet Explorer 8. Some of the new features designed for developers include a developer toolbar and improved interoperability and compatibility.

- - - - -

Brett's 2p'orth: For a fuller discussion of just how much Microsoft have 'improved interoperability and compatibility' visit one of the tech geek forums. Slashdot would be as good a place as any to start.
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Zhen Zhen

Rita Petita (possibly not her real name) has a superb set of photos featuring Zhen Zhen, a newly-born panda at San Diego Zoo.

Just a random thought, do all languages have an equivalent for 'Awww'?
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Glow

I heard this band performing a live session on 6Music's (uniformly excellent) Tom Robinson show and was struck by the subtlety, complexity and listenability of their songs. They're not obviously influenced by anyone, but for a thumbnail sketch think Elbow and Coldplay, with a dash of Radiohead and Kraftwerk.

Formed in 2005 Ben, Jim and Rob studied music at Southampton University and use laptops, keyboards and controllers to complement voice, trumpet and guitars. They eschew backing tracks and emphasise that their preferred environment is live performances.

Their first studio album is marked for release in Spring, but you can download full versions of all their songs from their website
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Airborne, the new snake oil

The New York Times reports: [edited]

The makers of Airborne, a line of popular herbal supplements that was marketed as a “miracle cold buster,” have decided to settle the false-advertising complaints in a class-action lawsuit for $23.3 million, according to one of the plaintiffs in the suit.

Who would ever believe that “an effervescent dietary supplement that was created by a school teacher” could cure the common cold? Evidently, quite a few people: the company says it took in more than $100 million from sniffly consumers through 2006, who followed the company’s advice to take the stuff at the first sign of symptoms and to expect relief within an hour or two.

Oprah Winfrey, Howard Stern, Kevin Costner and other stars endorse the product, and Airborne has been featured on the “Dr. Phil” and “Live With Regis and Kelly” television shows.

Airborne said that a double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted with “care and professionalism” by a company specializing in clinical trial management, GNG Pharmaceutical Services.

GNG is actually a two-man operation started up just to do the Airborne study. There was no clinic, no scientists and no doctors. The man who ran things said he had lots of clinical trial experience. He added that he had a degree from Indiana University, but the school says he never graduated.

An official at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food health and safety advocacy group that helped bring the lawsuit, disagreed. “There’s no credible evidence that what’s in Airborne can prevent colds or protect you from a germy environment,” David Schardt said in a news release.

Will this latest chink in Airborne’s armor hurt sales? That will be entirely up to consumers, who have begun to desert echinacea, another popular herbal remedy, after studies slammed its purported cold-fighting properties. Of course, the hopper keeps spinning, and another study popped up last month claiming it could work after all.
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Coathanger vs Monster Cable

Consumerist.com reports: [edited]

Can you tell the difference between music that passed through a pricey Monster stereo Cable, and a coat hanger? A reader forwarded us a post from the Audioholics Home Theater Forum and its author says no.

He says his brother ran an experiment on him and four other audio aficionados listening to a new CD from a new group blindfolded. Seven different songs were played, each time heard with the speaker hooked up to Monster Cables, and the other time, hooked up to coat hanger wire. Nobody could determine which was the Monster Cable and which was the coat hanger.

The kicker? None of the subjects even knew that coat hangers were going to be used. [They were assuming it was two different high-end makes of speaker cable. Ed]

- - - - -

Brett's 2p'orth: If you're the least bit curious, it's worth visiting the original Audioholics Forum post to see someone doing their best to be honest about what does and doesn't improve the listening experience.

I'm told I have a 'good ear' for what sounds good, but am also aware, as I get older, there are frequencies and nuances that my organic audio hardware is no longer able to discern (in fact, it's a thing of some wonder that I can hear at all with the volume levels my cochlea have been subjected to).

My basic rule is that if I can't consistently tell the difference between two items in a double-blind test, then (if all other factors are equal) it is pointless paying extra. It is for this reason that I convert all my digital music to 128kbps AAC, anything higher is a waste of storage space (for me).

There is one caveat to this. Any listening test has to be done over an extended period of time. Equipment that sounds superb for a couple of minutes can become 'wearing' after 20 minutes. A good playback system sounds better the longer you listen to it.

But this is becoming an essay. Note to self, 'Must revisit this area some time'.
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Roadrunner Bluetooth Communicator

Pro-Idee reports: [edited]

Fit the RoadRunner around your neck, with the microphone next to your voice box. This way your voice is directly transmitted from the larynx, with noise suppression of up to 10 dB. Ideal too when driving a convertible or a motorcycle.

The RoadRunner fits snugly around your neck. Ideal for jogging, skiing, cycling, motorcycling etc.

Priced at £39.50 plus p&p.
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Sony PlayStation 3 to shine in 2008?

Information Week reports: [edited]

If 2006 was the year of the Xbox 360 and 2007 was the year of the Wii, 2008 is shaping up to be PlayStation 3's turn in the spotlight, as it stokes demand in the $19 billion computer gaming industry with some hotly awaited game titles.

Nintendo's Wii outsold Sony's more expensive PS3 console 4-to-1 in Japan this month, but the PS3's maiden victory over the Wii last November showed that under the right conditions, the tables could turn.

Exclusive PS3 titles like puzzle-solving, community-based game "LittleBigPlanet", production improvements that will give Sony room to cut prices, and the recent victory of its Blu-ray technology in the high-definition DVD format war, should drive demand for the games console.

"2008 will be a turning year for the PS3," said iSuppli analyst Pamela Tufegdzic. "Sony is offering a better forthcoming software pipeline with blockbuster titles like "Gran Turismo 5", which will boost PS3 sales this year."

Sony cut U.S. prices for its PS3 in November to $400-$500, compared with $250 for the Wii, and $280-$450 for the Xbox.

The company loses money on each PS3 it sells. Each machine offers the Blu-ray optical disc player and the "Cell" microprocessor that provides life-like graphics for hardcore gamers, driving up production costs.

But Sony expects manufacturing costs to fall below selling prices in the second half of next fiscal year, as it boosts production efficiency and component prices fall. This will give it flexibility to cut prices without incurring hefty losses.

Its game division is set to post an operating loss of more than 100 billion yen ($925 million) in the year to end-March, but aims to return to profit in the year to March 2009.

Meanwhile, at $400, the PS3 is one of the cheapest Blu-ray machines available, and may see spill-over demand from DVD player buyers.

"People may buy the PS3 not only for their gaming needs, but for video as well, which gives the PS3 a unique competitive edge over the Wii and Xbox 360 well into the longer term," said Tufegdzic.

Electronic Arts, the world's largest independent games publisher, is banking on a PS3 growth spurt this year, forecasting sales of 9.5-11.5 million units, versus 6-8 million for the Xbox 360.

But Sony still faces significant hurdles.

Its Home network to compete with Microsoft's Xbox Live was delayed, while shipping dates for some major game titles have slipped. Microsoft and Nintendo are also well-placed to match any of Sony's price cuts.

ISuppli's Tufegdzic expects the PS3 to lead the market only in 2011, as the Wii continues to gain momentum after the release of its new home fitness game this year.

Nintendo will launch the popular "Wii Fit" in overseas markets in the June quarter, after unit sales topped 1.2 million in the nine weeks since its release in Japan.

With the Wii's launch in late 2006, Nintendo has broadened the market to women and the elderly by offering easy-to-learn games and breaking new ground with motion-sensing controllers.

This has helped its stock surge more than five-fold in the last two years to end-2007, making Nintendo Japan's third-most valuable company.
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Photoshop, how it all started

Storyphoto.com reports: [edited]

The story of one of the original "killer apps" begins in Ann Arbor, Michigan with a college professor named Glenn Knoll. Glenn was a photo enthusiast who maintained a darkroom in the family basement. He was also a technology aficionado intrigued by the emergence of the personal computer. His two sons, Thomas and John, inherited their father's inquisitive nature. And the vision for future greatness began with their exposure to Glenn's basement darkroom and with the Apple II Plus that he brought home for research projects.

"Photography was a hobby of mine in high school," explained Thomas in an interview for the Michigan Engineer. "In dad's darkroom, I learned how to make black-and-white and color prints, how to balance color and contrast."

"Another memory that is really fixed in my mind" John adds, "was in 1984 when I picked up a copy of Time magazine that had a little article about the Macintosh, and I thought, wow, look at this thing!" A couple of months later Mr. Knoll had purchased one of the first Macs available on the open market.

Even though Thomas loved hands-on darkroom work, he too had a keen interest in computers and programming. In 1987 he purchased an Apple Macintosh Plus to help him with his Ph.D. work on the "processing of digital images." Much to his disappointment, the Mac couldn't display gray-scale levels in his images. To solve that problem, Thomas wrote a subroutine to simulate the gray-scale effect.

"There were a bunch of command line driven shell tools much like the Unix C shell command line interface of the Pixar." Shortly there after, John and Thomas pulled these pieces of code together and Thomas built an amazing little application called "Display."

"I was delighted," John said, "but I started asking for more. What if Display could save images in other formats so I could print them in another program? I used Display to open a couple of sample images that I got from the ILM computer graphics department, but they looked too dark on my screen—suddenly I needed gamma correction tools too." John's requests distracted Thomas from his thesis work, but he too was intrigued by the possibilities of image editing on a personal computer.

This cycle of refinement continued over a period of months and led to an improved version of the application that became "ImagePro" in 1988. At this point John began suggesting to Thomas that they turn ImagePro into a commercial application.

"My fellowship money had run out and my wife was expecting our first child," Thomas explained during the Michigan Engineer interview. "I was feeling pressure to finish what I was doing and find a job."

In early 1988, Thomas decided to give himself six more months to finish a beta version of ImagePro and let John shop it around Silicon Valley. One company, BarneyScan, did show some interest. They offered to bundle (on a short term basis) what was now called "Photoshop" with their slide scanner. A total of about 200 copies of Photoshop were shipped.


In September 1988, the Knoll brothers' luck changed. John presented a demo to Adobe's internal creative team, and they loved the product. A license agreement was struck soon after, and Photoshop 1.0 was shipped in February 1990.
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Playstation 3 cluster

Gaurav Khanna reports: [edited]

The Sony PlayStation 3 has a number of unique features that make it particularly suited for scientific computation. To start with, the PS3 is an open platform, which means that one can run a different system software on it, for example, PowerPC Linux.

Next, it has a revolutionary processor called the Cell processor which was developed by Sony, IBM and Toshiba. This processor has a main CPU, called the PPU and several (six for the PS3) special compute engines, called SPUs available for raw computation.

We have a sixteen PS3 cluster in our department, which we call PS3 Gravity Grid. We are using stock PS3s. They are networked together using a gigabit switch.

Overall, a single PS3 performs better than the highest-end desktops available and compares to as many as 25 nodes of an IBM Blue Gene supercomputer. And there is still tremendous scope left for extracting more performance through further optimization.

We distribute the entire computational domain across the sixteen PS3s using MPI (message passing) parallelization. This enables the entire cluster to run together, harmoniously, working on the computation in an efficient way. Each PS3 works on its part of the domain and communicates the appropriate data to the others, as needed
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Lifecar

The Morgan Motor Company reports: [edited]

The Morgan LifeCar is a concept car due to be launched at the Geneva Show in March 2008. The LifeCar’s purpose is to demonstrate that a zero emission vehicle can also be fun to drive.

Going far beyond the incremental adaptation of traditional car designs as seen in current hybrid vehicles, it will demonstrate that a new step in vehicle architecture is enabled by the use of a fuel cell hybrid power train.

The approach is one of whole system design in which the architecture is generated from the characteristics of the fuel cell, in a light-weight vehicle coupled with a high hybridization level.

This combination will minimise the fuel cell cost and provide the fuel economy for a 200 mile range.
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Free font

Harold's Fonts reports: [edited]

Pharmacy was inspired by the sign at a local (Albany, NY) drugstore. Waiting at the red light, I'd often stared at the sign, admiring its jolly and curious mix of upper and lowercase, and the peculiar asymmetrical capital A.
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