Let people who love sore backs and dirty fingernails painstakingly tend their gardenias. Today’s backyard should be a maximized, automated, hyperefficient system of caloric production. With a little science—and some engineering prowess—you can keep your plot tidy, pest-free, and healthy while barely lifting a finger. So kick back with a gin-spiked kombucha and let your self-maintaining yard crank out the zero-mile arugula.
Here’s how the Cadbury factory in Birmingham, England, achieves candy magic, ova and ova.
Breaking news: The point-and-shoot camera market has seen better days. Smartphones are eating their lunch and going back for seconds and thirds. But they’re not dead, and a few things have helped compact cameras weather the smartphone revolution–and they involve situations in which you’d think twice about using your mobile device to take pictures.
For example, smartphones generally don’t have optical-zoom lenses (with one exception), big sensors, or extensive manual controls. And they certainly don’t have everything-proof bodies. You’d be a bit nuts to take your average smartphone snorkeling or into the thick of a haboob to snap a few shots. It’d risk the hub of your entire mobile existence.
The problem is, outside of pricey weather-sealed interchangeable-lens models, most rugged point-and-shoots are basic, boring compact cameras wrapped in resilient shells. But Olympus has straddled the line between “premium compact” and “rugged camera” for a few years now with its well-equipped Stylus Tough TG iHS lineup.
Like its predecessors, the new Tough TG-3’s solid hardware starts with an F2.0 wide-angle lens and a 4X-optical-zoom range (25mm to 100mm) with mechanical image stabilization. It doesn’t have full manual exposure controls, but it does have an aperture-priority mode in addition to panorama, time-lapse, and an extensive array of well-implemented art filters. You can pair it with an iPhone or Android phone via Wi-Fi and use your smartphone as a remote viewfinder and shutter release. Unfortunately, those remote-control Wi-Fi features will only work on dry land, so you’ll need to take handheld shots of that shark.
It’s built as much for butterfingers as scuba divers, with a waterproof rating to 50 feet, shockproofing rated to withstand drops of up to 7 feet, and crushproofing rated to withstand 220 pounds of force. It’s also dustproof and freezeproof, and it has on-board instruments including a compass, GPS, a manometer to gauge underwater depth, and an altimeter.
Unlike most rugged cameras, this one seems like it might actually be practical for everyday use. Along with its faster-than-most F2.0 lens, aperture-priority mode, and Wi-Fi capabilities, the TG-3 has an interesting take on a focus-bracketing mode. Called “Focus Stacking,” the camera snaps 8 images in rapid succession at different focal lengths. The camera is able to blend the bracketed images together as a single, completely-in-focus image at a wider aperture than most deep depth-of-field shots, and it also lets the user select one image from the sequence to use — sort of like a more-manual Lytro.
Available in June, the Olympus Stylus Tough TG-3 will cost $350. The camera will also have some unique accessories available for it, including an LED ring light that’s built to enhance the camera’s “Microscope” macro-photography mode, as well as fisheye and telephoto lens converters.
Whoever said that food and fashion don’t mix obviously haven’t seen these dainty and appetizing hats by MaorZabar Hats. Granted, the concept is strange and a bit far out, but the execution is just gorgeous.
Of course, it’ll take a playful personality (and possibly a large head) to be able to pull some of these hats off. But if you’re looking for one-of-a-kind fashion pieces that make a statement (mostly about your love of food), then these hats will do exactly that for you.
Sushi, fried eggs, salad, and pies – there’s a hat for each and every one of them.
They’re available for $266 each. Not cheap, but you have to admit, they are pretty amazing. You can check them out on Etsy.
[via Incredible Things]
If you’re in the market for a new air conditioner and you (and the heat) can wait till May, the Quirky+GE Aros is an app-enabled, Wi-Fi-connected window unit that combines Nest-like features with an 8,000 BTU cooling system.
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In the latest installment of “cameras are getting more like smartphones,” we have the Samsung NX Mini. Unlike the rest of Samsung’s interchangeable-lens NX lineup, it uses a brand-new lens mount that accepts diminutive optics.
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If your lemonade stand has strong sales this summer, you might be able to buy a new scooter. But that kid who owns a chain of neighborhood lemonade stands from Elm St. to Main? That kid rolls in a third-generation …
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Dying to be seen on your bike at night? Here’s a bright idea that turns not just the rider, but the entire ride, into one big glowing HEY! on the road.
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The Nikon 1 V3 is the new clubhouse leader when it comes to continuous-shooting speeds with (and without) autofocus enabled.
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The last 14-inch Razer Blade laptop was released less than a year ago, and it was great enough to score a 9/10 in WIRED’s full review. Now, there’s already a new version of the high-powered gaming notebook to drool over, …
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