The iPhone, like many cameras without proper mechanical shutter to separate video frames, captures movies with a weird, floppy jello-like appearance. This problem is called the rolling shutter and, like most digital glitches, can be exploited to great effect. Take a look at this clip of a guitar’s vibrating strings, shot by Kyle Jones.
When you shoot video with the iPhone, its CMOS sensor captures images by scanning one line of the frame at a time. If anything is moving fast, then it will be in a different place as each line is captured. This can lead to weird distortions in still photos, and to rather odd effects in video, just like Kyle’s guitar strings.
Interestingly, Kyle — a motion graphics designer and animator — wasn’t expecting these wobbly slo-mo strings when he shot the video. He just thought it would be cool to test “what it was like filming from inside my guitar.” Turns out it was a lot cooler than anyone thought.
After being available on the iPad for over a year, SketchBook Pro finally makes its way to Android Honeycomb tablets. Photo courtesy of Autodesk
Autodesk, most well known as creator of the popular 3-D design software AutoCAD, on Tuesday will announce the debut of its SketchBook Pro drawing application for Android tablets, the company has told Wired.com.
SketchBook Pro, essentially a digital canvas and brush set, allows you to use both your fingers and aftermarket styluses to create illustrations and designs. Included are over 60 different brush tools, the ability to create up to six different layers for one file, as well as the ability to export files to Photoshop.
The app was previously available on iPhone, iPad and Android phone devices, as well as in an expanded desktop version. This is the first version of the app that will run on Android’s tablet-optimized software, a.k.a. Honeycomb.
“In this world, size matters,” said Chris Cheung, senior product manager of SketchBook products, in an interview. “There’s this kind of different engagement — while phones are convenient and fit in your pocket, they aren’t the same experience as using the app while holding something the size of an actual sketchbook.”
The app’s tablet release is a timely one. Tablet manufacturers are trying hard to differentiate their hardware from others on the market, occasionally offering a stylus pen to complement a device. HTC’s Flyer tablet, which debuted earlier this year, was the first major Android tablet launch to include a stylus. And if This Is My Next blogger Joanna Stern’s sources are to be believed, we may soon see a tablet from Lenovo that includes a stylus as well. If so, Autodesk could potentially ride a wave of stylus-bundled Android devices to further popularity.
Though the software isn’t exactly a sleeper. Autodesk says SketchBook Pro has already been downloaded over 5 million times across all available platforms.
The company has more than just armchair artists in its sights. Cheung says the software caters to both amateur illustrators as well as established professionals in the design industry. Take Helmut Jahn, a 76-year-old architect and self-avowed technophobe, for instance. Jahn says after discovering the app on the iPad, he uses it for “90 percent of the drawings he makes while on the road,” according to a recent Chicago Business profile.
“It doesn’t remove the need for professionals and high end tools,” Cheung stresses. “But it basically almost level-sets the access to the technology. Effectively, we have these treasures that bring creativity to the masses.”
Of course, the artistic tablet software field isn’t solely populated by Autodesk. Famed Creative Suite makers Adobe recently debuted three apps for the iPad, all of which work in conjunction with Photoshop on the PC. Using the Eazel, Lab and Lava apps, you can finger paint, select Photoshop tools and mix colors, transferring results from iPad to PC instantaneously.
The biggest sea change rests in the app’s utility, rather than the new platform on which it will appear. Since the iPad’s debut, consumer tablet devices have typically been seen as content consumption devices, readymade for movie viewing and game playing. With applications like SketchBook Pro and Adobe’s new tools showing up on tablets, there’s more of an emphasis on content production occurring on novel forms, outside of the traditional desktop environment.
The app will be available through the Android Market for $5 to users running Android version 3.0 and up on their tablets. If you want to try before you buy, there’s also a free (though less feature-rich) version available for Android phones.
Check out the clip below to see SketchBook Pro for Android tablets in action.
For frequent business travelers, the days of carrying around a Swiss Army knife on your keychain were gone even before the TSA was born. Well, that familiar pocket multi-tool is back, in the form of Victorinox’s Swiss Army Slim and Slim Duo. Both products pack a tool that many of us use far more often than scissors and knives: the USB flash drive. We first took a look at Victorinox’s latest gadget at CES, but the colorful, waterproof storage devices are finally shipping, in capacities that range from 4GB ($40) all the way up to 128GB ($350) with the Slim Duo (which, as its name implies, includes a pair of 64GB drives). Both flavors are designed to let you file photos and presentations, not your fingernails — but if you’re looking to do both, Vic’s got you covered there, too.
The Arnova 8 is guaranteed to disappoint anyone who wants an iPad this Christmas
And so it begins. Possibly the only way for tablet makers to compete with Apple (until they actually make a viable alternative to the iPad) is to sell gullible consumers a tablet so cheap that they’ll buy it on impulse. Hey — it worked for MP3 players, right?
So, what will poor Johnny be getting for Christmas this year, instead of the iPad he asked Santa for? He’ll be getting the £99 ($159) Arnova 8-inch Android tablet from UK catalog-shopping store Asda.
This piece of landfill-ready consumer crap comes with just 4GB storage (plus a microSD card slot), runs Android 2.1 Éclair (remember that? Éclair first launched in 2009, with the 2010 version following in early 2010) on a mystery-meat 666MHz processor.
It gets worse. The screen features yet more tech from yesteryear — it’s resistive, not capacitive, so good luck with the multi-touch. Battery life is a poor 5.5 hours for video (likely to be much less in practice) and… and… And that’s it.
The sad thing is that Asda will probably sell out of these things, as uninformed people like Johnny’s parents snap them up. Even the PR pitch sent to me today shows that this is all about duping the high-street shopper: “just a quarter of the price of the more expensive versions on the High Street” it says [emphasis added].
Calling the iPad a “more expensive version” of this is like calling the Wacom Cintiq a “more expensive version” of the Etch-a-Sketch. A horribly designed, technologically out-of-date Etch-a-Sketch at that. An Etch-a-Sketch so ugly that even the product page for this real-life shipping product features no pictures other than a single CG mockup.
Should you actually want to spend your hard-earned cash on something that will likely disappoint anyone who uses it, and is cast almost immediately into the junk drawer, the Arnova 8 (from Archos, no less) is available now.
The Anymode Smart Case for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 may bear a suspicious resemblance to Apple’s iPad 2 Smart Cover, but Samsung insists it had absolutely nothing to do with it. In a blog post published today, the company responded to allegations that it tried to market a Cupertino rip-off, claiming that the accessory never received official “Designed for Samsung Mobile” certification. Samsung went on to point out that none of the cases have actually been sold, while confirming that it’s “working with Anymode to address this oversight.” In the meantime, the contentious Smart Case has been removed from Samsung’s Anymode’s site, meaning we can finally return to leading healthy, productive lives.
Antuan Goodwin picks his 10 favorite Android apps as part of the CNET 100 series. Check out the titles he loves best and be sure to vote for your favorite.
In its legal dealings against alleged plagiarism of its designs, Apple calls Samsung “the copyist.” It is rather ironic, then, that even Samsung’s accessory suppliers seem to be ripping of Apple’s designs. Exhibit a: The Galaxy Tab 10.1 Smart Case by Anymode.
Once we get past the fitting of the case, which use a full, wraparound rear case to hold it in place (the Tab hasn’t yet copied the iPad 2’s embedded magnets), the Smart Case is an astonishingly bold rip-off of the Smart Cover.
From the four-sectioned, foldable cover/stand design of the front flap to the gray microfiber lining to the colors of the cover itself. You can pick between the muted green, baby blue and fiery orange of Apple’s plastic covers, along with the dark red and black of its (inferior) leather covers. The gray, beige and navy blue colorways have sensibly been ignored.
The price for this startling “innovation”? 39,000 Korean Won, or about $37. Buy now, before Apple’s legal team goes to work, yet again.
Perhaps you recall hearing, back at CES, about GM’s aftermarket mirror that would make the OnStar service available to most cars, including those from its most hated rival in Dearborn. No? Don’t worry, here’s the skinny: the OnStar FMV will let you have the company’s popular blue button technology in over 90 million automobiles. Meaning that almost anyone can now reap the benefits of features like automatic crash response, turn-by-turn navigation and hands-free calling. You know… unless you’re cruising in the General Lee, or something. Selling for $299.99, plus a $75 installation charge and $18.95 per month ($199 yearly) subscription, the high tech rear-view mirror will be on shelves at Best Buy starting July 24th and is now available for pre-order. Before you throw down the Benjamins for this automotive security blanket, you might want to double check that your car is compatible — check the full PR to find out how.
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