Stats Show iPhone Owners Get More Sex


Gadget lovers have long held to the secret belief that the right camera, smartphone or large-aperture lens will make them sexier.

Now dating site OK Cupid has proof.

According to OK Cupid’s survey of 552,000 user pictures, digital SLRs make you look more attractive, Panasonic cameras make you sexier than Nikons, while using a flash will make you look 7 years older, and large-aperture lenses make you hotter.

And iPhone users have more sexual partners than BlackBerry or Android owners. By age 30, the average male iPhone user has had about 10 partners while female iPhone users have had 12. By contrast, BlackBerry users hover around 8 partners and Android users have a mere 6.

As the blog’s author’s wryly observe: “Finally, statistical proof that iPhone users aren’t just getting fucked by Apple.”

That should give iPhone and iPad users some comfort for being considered ‘selfish elites,’ as another recent survey found.

OK Cupid has been analyzing the behavior of the site’s millions of users for some time, and has discovered many interesting tidbits: People tend to lie on their profiles, people’s political preferences change as they age, and men can increase their chances of getting a date by being open to older women. The site’s massive dataset, huge volume of activity, and interesting slicing and dicing combine to produce some keen observations on human nature.

But for gadget heads, there’s no more pertinent observation than (hard) data. The Panasonic Micro 4/3 camera will make you look far more attractive than a Canon DSLR, which in turn is better than a Nikon or Sony DSLR. And forget about cameraphones: Android, Nokia, BlackBerry and Windows phones all make you look less attractive, with Motorola phones at the absolute bottom of the list.

Similarly, the type of camera you wield makes a big difference. There’s a dramatic illustration showing how the same woman looks photographed with a cameraphone, a point-and-shoot camera, and an SLR. That makes sense: As we’ve explained before, larger image sensors give you better-quality images.

Along the same lines, a larger-aperture photo lets you put the background out of focus, increasing the apparent attractiveness of the person you’re taking a picture of.

So if you wanted an excuse to buy a fancier camera with a bigger lens, OK Cupid’s got all the rationale you need.

As for switching from Android or BlackBerry to an iPhone? Well, that’s up to you. Unlike with the photos, it’s hard to tell whether iPhone use is the cause, or the effect, of having more notches in one’s bedpost.

OkTrends, via EthanZ

Image: via OKCupid

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Lightroom Update Finally Allows Catalog Imports, Adds FaceBook

Adobe has made available a new beta version of its Lightroom RAW photo editing software. It adds support for a lot of new cameras and old lenses, but more importantly, it squashes roughly a gazillion bugs.

RAW photo editors need to add-in support for every new camera which is released. Imagine re-jigging iTunes to play slightly different MP3 formats for every new album and you see how annoying that it. This release-candidate (RC 3.2) of Lightroom now works with the Panasonic DMC-LX5, the Samsung NX10 and Sony’s new NEX cameras, amongst others.

It also includes a lot of new lenses in its profiling section. Lightroom will adjust an image depending on what lens you used to shoot the photo, correcting for defects, color aberrations and vignetting as well as distortion. Previously, only profiles for Nikon and Canon lenses were included. Now, Pentax, Sony, Samsung and even a Phase One Schneider lens are available, along with more Nikon and Canon lenses (including some third-party models).

But best are the other tweaks. The biggest is that you can now import your old Lightroom catalogs, something that would hang if there were any duplicate pictures in that catalog (which is pretty much always). Now it works just fine, as tested by me, and now Lightroom 3 is loaded with around 12,000 images, I can confirm it is lightning-fast.

Finally, for those of you who like to give your lives away to further corporate exploitation and greed, Facebook export has been added to the Publishing Services, letting you add pictures of your cats to your account directly.

If you need any of this right now, its a free upgrade ready to download. The release candidate status usually means things are fully baked, but those more cautious photographers should wait for the final version.

Lightroom 3.2 [Adobe]

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Chinese Knock-Off: Two-in-One iPad Connection Kit

The Mystery of the Rare Peripheral continues, running on and on just like an old Republic serial. The peripheral in question is of course the iPad Camera Connection Kit, a box of plastic dongles so rare that even a hen’s dentist wouldn’t believe it exists.

While the iPad and iPhone have remained in tight supply, you can actually get one fairly easily. The Camera Connection Kit, by contrast, is still subject to a weeks-long wait. Mine finally arrived after a month and a half of waiting. Great, except it arrived at the wrong address, and is still missing.

This little Chinese widget combines the SD card-reader and the USB-port of Apple’s two boxes into one, and costs the same $29 (HK$228). The most important feature, though, is its availability, which is immediate. If you’re in China, that is. International orders are likely to take as long to arrive as the Apple original, which is at least guaranteed to work.

We know you’re struggling to meet demand, Apple, but come on, it’s a card-reader. Are you telling us that there’s a shortage of USB-ports in the world? Or that the white-plastic mines are running dry? Actually, maybe that’s actually the problem.

iPad Camera Connection Kit Knockoff Goes 2-in-1 [MIC Gadget]

iPad Combo Camera Adapter + card reader [WeiPhone]

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Fujifilm Instax mini50S Cheki camera

Camera fans and retro photography enthusiasts get ready!

This autumn Fujifilm is releasing its new Cheki camera. Following on from the Instax Mini 7S and even the Hello Kitty version (yes, really!), this new piano black mini50S has all the hallmarks of its predecessors: funky Polaroid-style images, a fun chunky shape, and simple cool functions like a double timer. Why take boring photos with a regular digital camera when you have options like the Cheki?

instax-mini-50s-cheki-camera-fujifilm-2

Previously we have speculated whether digital toy cameras are the next boom product. However, Fujifilm is demonstrating that unconventional film cameras with good design can also be a hit.

We also like how Fujifilm has enlisted the help of photographer Yasumasa Yonehara to promote the camera. He took the Cheki and shot some — by his standards, very tame — photos for use with their advertising and packaging.

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On sale in Japan from September, the Instax mini50S is now available for pre-order from JapanTrendShop.

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Photo Shows iPod Touch with Camera. Again

If you thought that things would be quiet in the world of Apple news until the yearly September iPod event, you’d be wrong. The rumors have already begun. Hardmac claims to have pictures of a next-gen iPod Touch with a rear-facing camera and flash. Rather than the usual blurry-cam picture we expect for leaks, it is a nice Apple Store-ready hero-shot. It is also, weirdly, in a case.

It’s almost certain that the new Touch will have a camera. We also know that the iPhone’s camera is pretty big, and would only just fit into the Touch, so seeing it all the way up at the corner of the Touch – its thinnest part – seems odd. So too, does the lack of a FaceTime-capable front-facing camera, but maybe that’s being saved for next-year’s model.

There’s not really much to get excited about here. The most interesting question, and the one that no spy-shot will answer, is whether or not the iPod Touch will use Apple’s A4 processor. I’d say it’s pretty likely: there are advantages of cost by using the same processor in all iDevices, as well as making things a lot easier for developers, who only have to write for one powerful processor, and two screen sizes (if the iPod Touch gets the Retina Display, that is).

One thing we do know, though, is that there will be new iPod models sometime in September, just like every year. Expect analysts to start “predicting” this fact very soon.

Pictures of the iPod Touch 4… well, almost [Hardmac]

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Plastic Flash Filter Kit: Is That a Rainbow in your Pocket?

Photojojo’s eight-pack of colored filters is “more whoa-inducing than a double-rainbow,” according to the blurb. The satisfyingly hefty chunks of acrylic will color the light from your flash for selective effects, or sit over your cameras lens to cast their hue over the entire scene.

Drilled to hook onto a keyring, and much sturdier than flimsy colored-gels, the plastic chips are just $15 and look like a whole lot of fun. If I didn’t already own a bag of gels, I’d spring for these right away. There’s just one thing missing: CTO. What? CTO, or color temperature orange, is the filter that warms your flash to the same color as indoor tungsten lighting, and is the most useful flash filter you can own.

It can also be used to simulate the setting sun when used in its full-power incarnation. Happily, this last, rather over-the-top, effect should be possible with the paler of Photojojo’s orange filters.

And before you worry about putting hunks of cheap plastic in front of your beautifully engineered lens, don’t. First, you shouldn’t be thinking too hard about image quality when you’re turning the whole room red. Second, this close to the lens even your pinky won’t show up on an image. Seriously. Set the lens on your SLR to its widest aperture and try it for yourself.

The filter kit is available now.

Color Lens and Flash Filters [Photojojo]

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Samsung Point-and-Shoot Has Flip-Out USB-Plug

To stand out in a commodity market, a new digicam needs a gimmick. And the Samsung PL90 has a gimmick so sensible and useful that it pops out and stands up to be seen. Literally.

Samsung’s new pocket camera comes with a USB-plug. Not a pathetic little mini or microUSB-plug either, but a full-sized connector which folds out, Flip-style, and hooks into your computer for both charging and image transfer. You should even be able to plug it straight into any USB-charger, meaning one less thing to carry on vacation.

Specs=wise, it comes in at the “pretty good” level, especially considering the $150 price-tag. You get a 29-116mm equivalent zoom, running from ƒ2.8-6.5, which is frankly excellent for this class of camera. The 2.7-inch screen has a lowly 230,000-dots, the movie mode manages just 640 x 480 pixels and the sensor has far too many pixels, counting 12.2MP.

The camera is obviously for the point-and-shoot customer, and includes face detection, a self-portrait mode which detects when your face in in frame and in focus. It even caters for those people who never even upload their pics to a computer, and will sort pictures into smart albums depending on date time and color.

Available September. It would make a great gift for mom.

Company site [Samsung]

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Thanko’s Button Camera Helps You Start Your Spy Career

Jason Bourne I am not. I have neither the chiseled features nor the eagle-eyed marksmanship. But I do have a little bit of guile, a closet full of button-up shirts and a spare ¥4,980 (about $58) to spend, so my international spy career may just get off the ground yet thanks to Thanko’s Spy Button video camera.

The camera, about the size of a small pack of gum, comes with black, white and pearl-colored buttons that allow it to attach to a shirt while being concealed inside it. With a 50-minute battery life, the 8-megapixel camera can also record 1280 x 960 HD video at 30 fps. This gadget, my entrée in to the dark arts of international espionage, connects to my computer through USB and can accommodate up to a 16 GB microSD card.

The camera can be bought stateside for a mark-up at Geek Stuff 4U. No word yet if the camera was employed by America’s favorite Russian spy ring.

[Akihabara via Engadget]

Photo Credit: Thanko


Apple Adds RAW Support for Almost All Mirrorless Cameras

Apple has another RAW Compatibility update out today. This would not usually be of note (unless a camera I owned was on the list, in which case I would be too excited to keep quiet) but support has been added for many of the most interesting cameras of the last few months.

With two exceptions, all of the cameras on this list are in the hot new mirrorless category: a couple of Micro Four Thirds models from Panasonic, the new Sony NEXs and Samsung’s APS-sensor NX10, at last. It’s almost certain that any Aperture-using NX10 owners defected to Lightroom months ago, but if you don’t mind that Apple hates you, now you can switch back. Here’s the full list, in easy-to-use bullet-point form:

*Canon PowerShot SX1 IS
*Olympus E-PL1
*Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2
*Panasonic Lumix DMC-G10
*Samsung NX10
*Sony Alpha DSLR-A390
*Sony Alpha NEX-3
*Sony Alpha NEX-5

Since Apple switched away from putting its RAW updates into OS updates, things have been a lot quicker, although Adobe usually still gets support out faster. Anyhow, all of these cameras now work with Aperture and iPhoto, and will show up as proper thumbnails all over the OS. Available for free download now.

Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.3 [Apple]

Photo: nayukim/Flickr

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360 Panorama for iPhone Builds Scenes as You Swipe

360 Panorama is a new kind of pano-shooting app for the iPhone. Instead of taking many pictures and then stitching them together afterwards, like every other pano app, you just sweep the iPhone across the scene in front of you and 360 Panorama will build a super-wide image in real time, similar to what you can do with some of Sony’s latests digicams.

The app is still taking lots of individual shots: it’s just putting them together as you swoosh your iPhone over the world and working out where the camera is pointing by using the accelerometers. Image-sections pop up onto grid as you go, showing you the app’s progress, and a full 360-degree panorama should take about 20 seconds to complete. You’re going to need a new iPhone to run it, though. Because this is a processor intensive app, it will only work on the iPhones 3G and 4.

The app is $3, and available now.

360 Panorama [iTunes]

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