Mar 01
La Toya Jackson. Meat Loaf. Joan Rivers. Gene Simmons. Over the last five seasons, “Celebrity Apprentice” has played host to some of the most wild and unpredictable celebrities on the planet.
But only one was an “angel in an Earth suit.”
Mar 01
I want to give a big shout-out to The New York Times for its persistent and intriguing coverage of Christian colleges and universities in the United States that are sifting and sorting their theological and ministry positions on homosexuality and gender expression. And I want to thank Times writer Mark Oppenheimer for specifically mentioning that my beloved Soulforce was again blamed by the conservative Cedarville University trustees for raising the question of whether a person can be Christian and gay on their campus. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, those of us at Soulforce feel like we have done a good day’s work when people have to think about and talk about what it means to be gay and Christian.
Cedarville’s Vice President for Student Life, Dr. Carl Ruby, was a gracious host when we visited the campus in 2007. Unlike some school leaders who arrange to have our Riders arrested for trespassing when they try to speak about the Bible and homosexuality, Dr. Ruby allowed us on campus, organized a series of chapel talks about homosexuality and encouraged students to welcome us with love. Though Dr. Ruby persists in his belief that the Bible condemns homosexual acts, he thought that our visit was an opportunity to teach Cedarville students how to gracefully engage those with whom they may disagree.
It is Cedarville’s loss that Dr. Ruby resigned under pressure last month. He was like a refiner’s fire on the campus, helping “faculty, students and trustees at Cedarville try to figure out what kind of Christians they are.” Oppenheimer writes, “Are they sectarian or broad-minded? Fundamentalist or open? Republicans, or independent of political parties? Those who want a less fundamentalist, more open Cedarville believe that Dr. Ruby is a martyr to their cause.”
Mar 01
Wrestling with the good, the bad, and the potential of technology is my constant state of existence. The technology we’ve created gives us a plethora of new possibilities. But the technology we’ve created also takes something away from us: being present, focused, and in the moment.
Read More…
More on Video
Mar 01
#FollowMeTo: Murad Osmann, Russian Photographer, Travels The World With Girlfriend In Striking Instagram Photo Series
Posted in: Today's ChiliIt all started in Barcelona, Spain in the fall of 2011 when Murad Osmann’s girlfriend had enough of his incessant photo clicking on their vacation. “Nataly was a bit annoyed that I was always taking pictures of everything, so she grabbed my hand and tried to pull me forward,” Osmann told the Daily Mail. “That said it didn’t stop me from doing photos while she was pulling me.”
Since then, the Russian producer and photographer and his journalist girlfriend Nataly Zakharova have produced and posted over 40 “Follow Me To” photos to Osmann’s Instagram account. According to Osmann, Nataly’s impatience was the inspiration behind what has since become a social media phenomenon, with more than 50,000 followers on Instagram. Their photographs have also inspired other couples to post their own sweet and silly #FollowMeTo photos.
Story continues after photo.
Mar 01
This week we’ve had the pleasure of working with the brand new LG Optimus G Pro, taking photos as we covered the technology conference known as Mobile World Congress – of the 2013 variety. This device is one that we’ve now got in our possession still, and we’ll be bringing you a review in full in just a few days time. But meanwhile we’ve taken what LG has been very clear is a proud point for them in this device and put it to the test, right in the thick of thousands and thousands of ravenous mobile lovers in Barcelona, Spain – enjoy.
Before we go any further, you should know that this is just the second in what we’re expecting will be an extended series of Photo Tour posts here on SlashGear. The first was back a few months ago with the HTC Evo 4G LTE, a device whose photo setup was being pushed by its makers at the time. Of important note is the fact that both that device and this one both use Qualcomm Snapdragon processors – from different generations, yes, but both coming with architecture that Qualcomm is proud to speak about as having fabulous photo processing abilities. This time they team with LG, and here we go again on a different corner of the earth – Spain.
The first image you see above was shot with the camera right out of the box, automatic settings from start to finish, the shot taken in the morning of a Barcelona city street. Note that this photo was also the subject of another hands-on post earlier this week, the LG Pocket Photo – a miniature photo printer that requires no ink to use – like magic! Below you’ll see one of our first examples of an HDR photo. The shutter speed on this device, even with HDR, is rather quick – but because of the nature of HDR photos, you’ll still see multiple instances of the same people walking in this MWC 2013 crowd.
Below this you’ll find a gallery of photos taken in the same location as what you see above. With the quick shooting mode on this device, you’re able to collect a massive amount of photos in undeniably quick succession – 20 shots before it has to stop and think about what it’s done. The best way for you to visualize this here in still photos is to click (or tap) one of the photos below and move rapidly through the gallery with your arrow buttons. This will only work on a desktop computer with our gallery system unless you’ve got a wildfire-fast tablet or smartphone – if you do, go for it! The goal here it to see the images as a sort of stop-motion animation. When you do, you’ll see that this beast is a snappy shooter.
Another example of an HDR photo can be seen next – the big LG logo. Here you’ll get an idea of how this device shoots something lit up in a rather mixed-lighting environment. Again you’ll notice the multiple instances of the same faces because of the multi-exposure that happens when you shoot an HDR shot.
A macro photo can be seen next, even though the LG Optimus G Pro isn’t promoted for its macro abilities, you’ll find that this photo does the trick. The subject matter is the G Pro Quick Cover – an official LG-made cover for this device you can read all about over on Android Community. Up close and personal without a special setting looks rather nice and clear with the 13 megapixel camera we’re right here and now using with the LG Optimus G Pro.
Another HDR photo is next, in this case showing an especially dark locale. You’ll find that in this Beer shop in the midst of this week’s convention venue, the blacks have become in many cases a lighter shade of gray. With this you’ll see that there’s not much that you cannot see – that can be especially valuable if you’re doing photography for documentation rather than for the sake of high art. If you want 100% true-to-life colors, you wont want to use HDR with the Optimus G Pro.
Then there’s a two-up photo set here, the first of a Coke can taken without HDR, the next being that same Coke can, this time with HDR switched to “on”. You’ll be able to tell one from the other only with extremely sharp eyes – and by noticing that I’ve accidentally placed my finger into the edge of the HDR photo. The HDR photo looks almost identical to the non-HDR photo (besides the finger and the television picture behind the can, for obvious reasons). The HDR version is ever-so-slightly more intense, especially in the darks across the range – the red in the can, for example, is a bit more deep.
The gallery you’re having a peek at below shows two different examples of what the LG Optimus G Pro captures with its own unique version of a Photo Sphere. If you’ll remember back a few weeks when a new version of Android Jelly Bean was introduced, Google revealed Photo Sphere – a built-in camera mode that creates a panorama photo, but capturing a massive photo that covers all directions, something like what you see when you head to Street View in Google Maps. You’ll also remember that while it works great some times, it – at other times – doesn’t work so perfectly. The same is true of LG’s iteration of this feature, even with a slightly different user interface.
Another gallery rests below, this time showing a set of examples of a regular old panorama. This standard panorama mode has produced marginally better results for us thus far than the sphere-like mode above. It is important here – as it always is with panorama shooting at this time in history – to drag the camera across your scene at an even rate – and not too slow, not too fast either. One of the photos was taken at the Google Head Space party during MWC – as you can see, this club area was rather dark, and didn’t work too well with the panorama mode in the end. The others were taken on a bridge inside the main MWC 2013 event, lighting being a bit more generous.
Next you’ll see another example of a photo taken indoors of a rather large, open area at Mobile World Congress. The first shot was taken without HDR, the second was taken in HDR mode. This example set shows just a bit more clear the difference between the two – generally this is the case when you’ve got the possibility of a much more large range of colors and levels of light and dark.
The nighttime photo you see below is taken from across the street from the Mobile World Congress 2012 venue. This is a place where many MWC-goers stop on the train to transfer trains as it’s a large hub from one place to another – notably the new venue, mind you. The important point here is the levels of light in the darkness – and the idea that this photo was captured by hand. Normally a photo captured here at this time by hand – with most smartphone cameras, that is – would have lots of light streaks due to the shutter being open for enough time to capture the correct amount of light. In this case, LG’s setup allows you to do this much quicker – and the result is obvious.
Finally you’ll find a lovely gallery full of photos taken at one of the more challenging locations a person can take a photo at with results that look more than terrible. It is – once again – the Mobile World Congress 2013 Google party: Google Head Space. There are two rooms here, the first a smaller one made for chilling out and having a drink amongst a DJ mixing tunes under a massive Google Play Music set of orange headphones. The second is a massive room with a stage that held both Tinie Tempah and Florence and the Machine.
Enjoy this if you would, and have a peek at the rest of our Mobile World Congress 2013 content in our lovely MWC 2013 tag portal. You can also have a peek at our LG tag portal for more awesome Optimus action, there finding the review of the LG Optimus G Pro soon, and very soon.
LG Optimus G Pro Photo Tour: Barcelona, MWC 2013 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Mar 01
Google has just provided a veritable boon to Android devs and custom ROM makers. The Mountain View company has recently uploaded the latest Android 4.2.2 binaries to the Nexus device download page for all AOSP-supported Nexus gear: the Nexus 4, the Nexus 7 WiFi, the Nexus 7 3G, the Nexus 10, the global version of the Galaxy Nexus and its Verizon equivalent. This also means that the AOSP (Android Open Source Project binaries) finally exist for the Nexus 7 3G and the Nexus 4, which had been missing from previous updates. If you’ve been on the hunt for the latest and greatest drivers for your wares, go ahead and download the binary of your choice from the source below and get to updating it before a certain green pie update comes along.
Via: Android Police
Source: Google Developers
Mar 01
On this week’s “Gypsy Sisters,” Mellie’s wedding is around the corner, but there’s some serious drama ahead.
In HuffPost TV’s exclusive clip from this week’s episode (above), Mellie’s cousins Kayla and Annie are worried about the fact that Mellie’s sister Nettie, the “Gypsy Sisters” matriarch, isn’t talking to their mom Lottie Mae. When they call Nettie up, boy, do they get an earful. Is she going to open up a “can of whoop ass?”
As Nettie rants on the phone, Annie says, “She’s gonna kill somebody. She’s gonna fight. She could be knocking bitches out.” And Kayla is worried, saying in her confession, “She is in a rage right now. She’s gonna rip this wedding apart.”
Read More…
More on TV Spoilers
Mar 01
Does having children put a strain on marriage?
On Thursday’s episode of “The Ricki Lake Show,” a mother of two admitted she’s so tired from raising her children that she’s “lost love” for her husband and her kids. It’s gotten so bad, she says she even fantasizes about having weekends to herself if she and her spouse were to divorce.
“My marriage is falling apart,” the woman says in the clip above. “I’m not seeing the precious things in my children, I’m not having fun with them.”
Mar 01
True the Vote used numbers that skewed their results in their favor when analyzing turnout in every single state they tested. Once recalibrated, True the Vote’s claim that states with new voter ID laws, enacted or pending, experienced an increase in turnout is patently false.
Read More…
More on Voting Rights
Mar 01
Kansas Senate Passes Bill Restricting Kris Kobach PAC, But In Favor Of Voter Fraud Prosecution
Posted in: Today's ChiliThe Republican-controlled Kansas state Senate passed legislation Thursday evening that would give Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) power to investigate and prosecute election fraud cases. The legislation will also prohibit Kobach from having his own political action committee to campaign for political allies in the state.
Kobach, the state’s chief election officer, has long sought prosecutorial power as part of his effort to end what he believes is a serious problem of voter fraud in the state. He has also been active with his political action committee, offering support to choice politicians and in one case defeating a vocal legislative critic.
Kobach told the Associated Press that he is pleased that the senators support his quest to prosecute election fraud, something he thinks local prosecutors have not gone after aggressively enough. Kobach added that he believes the PAC ban violates his freedom of speech. Kobach has argued that his PAC is separate from his governmental role. He does not count ballots, he has noted, but rather leaves that function to county officials — many of whom are appointed by Kobach.
Read More…
More on Voting Rights
Who's in charge here?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.