FocuSoft Tech Blog

Video: Creative Zii EGG development kit gets a second look
The Kitchen Scale, Unsung Hero of Great Cooking [Taste Test]
Will Someone Please Tell Me Exactly What a Personal Computer Can Do? [Retromodo]
NFL to let Cowboys giant HD scoreboard stay as-is, at least for 2009
Ask a Pro: How to Shoot (and Not Get Shot) In a War Zone [Photography]
Canon 7D surfaces along with new macro lens
CrunchDeals: DropCopy for the iPhone is free
Kodak’s Flexible OLED Display Swims With the Fishes [Oled]
Contest Extended: Resident Evil zombie tee
Altoids: Curiously Strong, Curiously Hacked [DIY]

Video: Creative Zii EGG development kit gets a second look

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 07:41 PM PDT

We already know the Creative Zii EGG development edition is shipping out to eager hands, but for the even more eager eyes out there, the folks at Anything But iPod managed some pretty nice, well-lit HD video to give another illustration of how the hardware will look and feel. The narrator is quick on multiple occasions to remind viewers it’s an early build running on Creative’s Plazma OS only (no Android yet) and he takes issue with the feel of the thin film of plastic on the touchscreen, but that and slow load times notwithstanding, the device is looking mighty impressive. Pictures through the read link, and mosey on past the break for digital peep show.

[Thanks, Mathieu]

Continue reading Video: Creative Zii EGG development kit gets a second look

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Video: Creative Zii EGG development kit gets a second look originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Kitchen Scale, Unsung Hero of Great Cooking [Taste Test]

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 07:00 PM PDT

096c08f9daale sm.jpg The Kitchen Scale, Unsung Hero of Great Cooking [Taste Test] Food writer and culinary expert Michael Ruhlman didn’t want us to get through a week of celebrating kitchen gadgetry without singing praise of the digital scale. Damn the cups and tablespoons, cooking by weight is the only path to awesomeness.

The kitchen is a place where tools, gadgets, and gizmos—that is, the very non-human objects that entrance guys—are in continual use. I, like every cook I know, love my tools. The breakfast chef instructor when I was at cooking school reportedly slept with her omelet pans. She understood. Cooks throughout America go kind of silly in the head when they go into a cookware store (I pretty much want everything I see even when I don’t need anything).

While important to remember—as American’s chief food geek Alton Brown has noted here and elsewhere—you don’t want unitaskers in your kitchen (unless it’s an air-popper used to toast pine nuts!), things like hand blenders and cable thermometers with wireless remotes are incredibly useful.

But for all our gadget hunger, America has yet to embrace what is one of the most important tools of all in the kitchen. A digital scale.

Why is a scale important? Because recipes work better when you weigh ingredients. A cup of flour can weigh between 4 and 6 ounces. That means if you’ve got a bread or cake recipe that calls for 4 cups of flour, you might measure out 16 ounces or 24 ounces—a 50% difference in the main ingredient! No wonder people are so afraid of making their own cake. Measuring is easier and cleaner and results in fewer dirty measuring cups when you use a scale. You can measure everything right into your mixing bowl. Have you ever tried to measure out a cup of shortening? It’s a mess.

Another example: If you know pasta is three parts flour and two parts egg, fresh pasta dough takes about two minutes to put together. Put your bowl on a scale, crack in your eggs and add 1.5 times as much flour. Two large eggs are about 4 ounces, so you’d add 6 ounces flour. Need four portions? Put four eggs in your bowl and add 12 ounces of flour. Recipes scale up and down multiple times and always work.

Pancake batter, in fact all quickbread batters, are essentially equal parts flour and liquid and half as much egg. You can measure out all your ingredients into a big measuring cup with a spout for easy pouring. If I’m just making pancakes for my 10-year-old kid, I use one egg. If making for me as well, I add another egg. If my wife wants some, then I make a three-egg batch.

Moreover, this kind of proportional cooking by weight works in grams, ounces, whatever unit you want. Whether you mix 20 ounces of flour and 12 ounces of water, or 500 grams of flour and 300 grams of water, it’s going to be good bread dough.

So as more and more of us head into the kitchen, I’ve been on a mission to urge people to embrace the scale. I’ve become a scale evangelist.

I use a My Weigh scale and love it. It works great and doesn’t cost a fortune. Thomas Keller and his gang at French Laundry, Per Se and Bouchon use A&D scales, which are very sensitive but a little pricey.

My Weigh recently came out with a new one that does something really cool. It measures by percentage. Which is how a lot of bakers measure. The standard baker’s percent of bread, for instance is 100% flour, 60% water, 3% fresh yeast, 2% salt. With this scale, you simply pour in the flour, hit percent, then the “tare” or zeroing button, and begin adding the water till it reads 60. Zero again and add your next ingredient.

This is a tool that really does make cooking easier and faster. So the next time you need a gadget fix, skip the panini press and buy a scale.

Michael Ruhlman couldn’t have written Charcuterie without a scale, and his most recent book, Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking is devoted solely to cooking by using proportions by weight. It is the opinion of at least some Gizmodo editors that Michael’s recently published Elements of Cooking is a must-have for people who take their own cooking (and eating) seriously. He also blogs at ruhlman.com.

The Kitchen Scale, Unsung Hero of Great Cooking [Taste Test]

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The Kitchen Scale, Unsung Hero of Great Cooking [Taste Test]

Will Someone Please Tell Me Exactly What a Personal Computer Can Do? [Retromodo]

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 05:30 PM PDT

I don’t know what I like more about this 1981 4-page ad for the Apple III: The naive list of 100 things a computer can do, or the fact that precognitive designers created Mac OS X’s aqua look back then.

Most probably, the thing I like more is that the copy reads a lot like modern Apple ads. [Mac Mothership]

Will Someone Please Tell Me Exactly What a Personal Computer Can Do? [Retromodo]

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Will Someone Please Tell Me Exactly What a Personal Computer Can Do? [Retromodo]

NFL to let Cowboys giant HD scoreboard stay as-is, at least for 2009

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 05:16 PM PDT

The NFL has ruled on the Dallas Cowboys punt blocking super-sized videoboard deciding to leave it where it is, 90 feet above the playing field, at least for this season. That’s no surprise to us, on the last EHD Podcast we figured no one would be able to tell Jerry Jones there’s a problem with his billion dollar baby, obstructed view seating and all. So far there’s just the one strike in the books, but if it happens again, it is a dead ball and the clock and down will both be reset. Haven’t seen the punt heard round the world yet? Check after the break for a clip of the kick that caused all the commotion, though we’re still waiting for a ruling on whether or not Gears of War tournaments on the thing are still legal.

Continue reading NFL to let Cowboys giant HD scoreboard stay as-is, at least for 2009

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

NFL to let Cowboys giant HD scoreboard stay as-is, at least for 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ask a Pro: How to Shoot (and Not Get Shot) In a War Zone [Photography]

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 04:30 PM PDT

Ever wonder how war photographers survive out there? We’ve enlisted Teru Kuwayama—a photographer who has covered conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hotspots for Time, Newsweek and Outside—to explain the perils of working in a war zone.

Among military planners, there’s an aphorism that states: “Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics.”

The daily mechanics of photographing in a “war zone” don’t have much to do with photography—mostly it’s about getting from point A to point B without getting your head cut off, then finding a signal and an outlet.

I’m probably not the right person to be give advice on war photography, since I don’t even count myself as a war photographer—but for one reason or another, I’ve spent the better part of the last decade in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. I was a young photographer when these wars began—I’m not anymore, and from all indications, the “long war” is just getting started.

For what it’s worth, here’s some advice for first timers heading out to the badlands.

Wear Your Seat Belt
I get questions on a daily basis from journalists heading for Afghanistan—most of them are about body armor—but it’s the traffic that’s most likely to kill you. The stretch of Islamist insurgency that arcs from Southern Philippines to Somalia hasn’t produced exceptional snipers, but it’s home to some of the most lethal drivers on Earth. On my last trip to Pakistan, I flipped a car four times within 72 hours of arrival. My bulletproof vest is still wrapped in plastic somewhere in Islamabad.

Learn How To Say “Hello” and “Thank You” and To Count To Ten
Most tourists wouldn’t go to France or Italy without packing a phrasebook, but a surprising number of photographers set off to Iraq or Afghanistan without learning how to make the most basic conversation. I recently found myself explaining to an “experienced war photographer” that Afghans don’t speak Arabic.

Stop Looking For the “Front Line”—It’s a Mirage
The awkwardly named “global war on terror” might be the undeclared World War III of the 21st century, but it doesn’t play out like WWI and WWII, and counterinsurgency isn’t done in trenches. In modern military parlance, the “battlefield” has been replaced by the “battlespace,” an all-encompassing realm that includes not just the landscape, but also the “hearts and minds” of a “human terrain,” and the airwaves and webspace across which an “information war” is being waged.

Equip Yourself With the Right Gear
War zone propeller-heads can talk endlessly about their toys, so here, in bullet points, are a few tips:

• Avoid the faux-commando stuff – An entire paramilitary equipment industry has emerged, selling “special operator” products ranging from “tactical flashlights” to mercenary-chic cargo trousers. Private military contractors love this overpriced war-schwag, but since you are not a highly paid, heavily armed, former Navy SEAL, it’s probably best that you avoid dressing up like one. When you’re on the side of the road, getting shaken down for your money and/or your ID, you really don’t want to pull it out of a camouflage passport holder that says “Operation Iraqi Freedom” all over it. (It won’t make you especially popular in the airport in Paris or Dubai either).

• Bring plastic (not your credit cards) – In places like Iraq and Afghanistan, you will encounter an unimaginable variety of dirt, dust, sand and, in the rare event of rain, mud that falls from the sky. These abrasive, corrosive, gear-choking forces are probably more destructive than any known insurgent militia, and they will eat you and your expensive toys alive. Zipties, ziplock bags, crazy glue and plastic packing tape will help you patch it together. Skip the army-navy outfitter, and go to Home Depot and the 99-cent store.

• Pack your go bag – AKA, your grab bag, jump bag, snatch bag, bug-out bag, etc. Since you’re out there looking for trouble, be prepared to find it. Your go bag is the essential kit, packed in advance, that you head for the door with when things get hectic (see the contents of mine below). Beyond your go bag, keep an ultra-light bare-bones survival pack—and keep it strapped to your body. When things go bang, you may be semi-conscious, crawling out of a destroyed building or a wrecked vehicle, and even your go bag may go sideways. Military bases and hotels with foreign guests are natural magnets for missiles and explosives, so expecting to be blown out of bed is not necessarily an irrational thought. Similarly, you are exceptionally vulnerable when traveling by road, and in the event of an accident or an ambush that you are lucky enough to survive, you won’t get a time-out to collect your stuff.

• A look at my go bag
notebooks
passports x2
sim cards -af, pak, india, thuraya,usa
2 x mini waterproof case – credit cards, cigarettes, etc
ziplock bag – currency – af, pak, indian, euro, pounds sterling,
dollars canadian, USD, UAE dirhams
IDs – press cards, military embed badges, etc
med pack + personal hygiene
batteries – AAA, AA, 123
power strip/surge protector – universal/multi port for regional power plugs
steel cable/TSA locks X5
AC/DC car power transformer – cig port to US power socket.
box o’ electronic shit – chargers, adaptors, usb cables, etc
zip ties, ziplock bags, packing tape, contractor grade heavy duty garbage bags
protective cases with camera memory cards
laptop
mini-pelican case with 3x 500GB external harddrives
2x headlamps w/red gel

• I keep my shooting gear in a big Pelicase:
2x Holga
2x Widelux
2x Leica (M6, M8.2)
1x Canon G10
3x batteries for G10 and M8.2
2x charging units for G10 and M8.2
light meter
audio recorder
gps navigator
folding stereo headphones
mini screwdriver set
knife
2x multi-tool (large with wire cutters, small w/scissors)
2x mobile phone (US + overseas)
film + memory cards + video tapes
body armor (level 4 stand-alone rifle plates, carrier harness + kevlar helmet)
boots, trainers, local sandals
ultra light sleeping bag + bivy sack + all purpose dhoti/sheet
waterproof river-rafting bag
survival blanket/camping tarp
compression straps, rope/cable
clothing – western + local

Embedding Has Both Perks and Consequences
For better, and for worse, the military has provided training wheels for rookies. On the upside, embedding takes care of the serious logistical challenges of transportation, shelter, security and food and water. There’s not a lot of bed-and-breakfasts to be found in Fallujah or Kandahar, so that’s not a small consideration. On the downside, embedded reporters operate on a very short leash with ever-increasing restrictions from their military handlers. Independent reporting is critical for getting an accurate view from these places, but it’s dangerous, difficult, expensive, and it’s being done less and less by the international press. Embedding provides a particular but extremely limited view of the battlespace. You can spend an entire deployment embedded with the US Marines in Diyala or Helmand, but don’t fool yourself that you know anything about Iraq or Afghanistan—what you’ve seen is the inside of an armored bubble.

Get In Shape Before Deploying
If you’re going to hang out with the war jocks, get in shape. No one expects you qualify for Special Forces school, but if you’re an overweight chain-smoker, you’re not going to inspire a lot of confidence in the infantry unit you want to tag along with, and you’re likely to get left back at base (for your own good, and theirs). I’m 5′6″, 140 lbs, and 38 years old, which means I should probably be behind a desk somewhere, but somehow ended up living in mountains and deserts with soldiers and marines who are literally twice my size, and half my age—while I’m hauling a backpack that’s more than 50% of my body weight. Those are unsympathetic mathematics that destroy knees, spines and ankles. Do whatever you can to rebuild your most basic equipment—running, lifting, swimming, wall-climbing, yoga, whatever—just do it, and don’t wait till the week before you ship out.

Fixers: The Tour Guides of War Reporting
Sometimes they’re local journalists, sometimes they’re taxi drivers or doctors who speak English and know how to get things done. If they were American or European, they’d have more glamorous titles like “field producers” or “media consultants.” But in Iraq and Afghanistan, they do journalism’s heavy lifting for a $100 a day, and they’re left back in the shit when their clients are telling war stories back at home. Respect them, their knowledge, and the risk they face to make your work possible—but don’t trust them blindly. Some of them are shady, and all of them are winging it, just like you are. I avoid fixers because so many of the ones I’ve worked with are dead now.

Don’t Follow the Pack
For most of the last eight years, Afghanistan was the “Forgotten War”, and Iraq was the “Central Front”. The US government has now reversed gears, and the US media is now falling over itself to relocate all the balls it dropped. As mainstream journalists are beginning to grapple with the complexity of Afghanistan-plus-Pakistan, special operations are quietly moving on to the Horn of Africa. Try to think outside the extremely cramped box—by the time it’s “news,” it’s pretty old.

Visit Lightstalkers.org
Five years ago, while I was working in Iraq, I teamed up with my brother, a web developer, to launch a web-based data-sharing network of people who do inadvisable things in sketchy places. When you have a bizarre question that no travel agent can answer, try our site, lightstalkers.org. Someone out there will have advice for you—heed it at your own peril.

Teru Kuwayama has made more than 15 trips to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir, traveling both independently, and as an embedded reporter with US and NATO military forces, as well as Afghan, Pakistani, and Indian armed forces. In 2009 he received the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor award for his work in Pakistan, and a fellowship from the South Asian Journalists Association.

He is a 2009-2010 Knight Fellow at Stanford University, a contributor to Time, Newsweek and Outside magazines, and a contract photographer for Central Asia Institute, a non-profit organization that builds schools for children in remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He is also the co-founder of Lightstalkers.org, a web-based network of media, military, and aid and development personnel, and the curator of Battlespaceonline.org, a traveling exhibition of photographs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A special thanks goes out to Teru. Immediately after sending Gizmodo this piece, Teru returned to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Ask a Pro: How to Shoot (and Not Get Shot) In a War Zone [Photography]

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Ask a Pro: How to Shoot (and Not Get Shot) In a War Zone [Photography]

Canon 7D surfaces along with new macro lens

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 04:07 PM PDT

A leaked poster told us most of the pertinent information about Canon’s upcoming 7D, and this adds weight to that info. There are a few new specs; apparently the AF system is a new layout, and it’s a dual Digic IV processor setup, which probably accounts for its ability to shoot at 8FPS. There’s also a new flash and an… aerodynamic body design? What?

Here’s the full list of features, gleaned from some pictures posted in Fred Miranda forums.

1. 18MP APSC CMOS
2. Dual DIGIC 4
3. 8 FPS (94 FINE JPEG/ 15 RAW)
4. New eight-directional double cross central AF point, total 19 cross AF points
5. ISO 100-6400 (Exp 12800)
6. 100% 1.0X magni VF with intelligent display, horizon assist
7. New iFCL metering (exposure and colour)
8. 3′ 920K Version II LCD, 160 deg viewing
9. Full HD video (w external mic input n HDMI output)
10. Live view w Face-priority AF
11. New switch for Live View/Video mode
12. Aero-dynamic body design, metallic shutter sound, 150K shutter life
13. New 24mm built-in flash, supports EOS intelligent speedlite system
14. A.L.O
15. P.I.C
16. Picture style
17. EOS Integrated Dust Removal system

Don’t ask me what ALO and PIC are. Some of the commenters are disputing the veracity of these pics and specs, but they sound about right to me. Apparently it’s a 1.6x cropped FOV, which some people will like and some not; at any rate those new wide angle zooms would be sweet on a 1.6x or 1.3. As I noted before, I’d put its price at sub-$2000, probably priced competitively but not equally with Nikon’s new D300s.

There’s also a nice new 100mm f/2.8L macro: dual IS, 9-blade aperture, internal focus and full-time manual. I’m guessing it’ll be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1200. How I would love to have one… but I guess I’ll just have to continue doing semi-macro with my 35mm f/2. Hey, it works!

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Canon 7D surfaces along with new macro lens

CrunchDeals: DropCopy for the iPhone is free

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 04:05 PM PDT

photo-5
Looking for any easy way to transfer photos or files from one iPhone to another or an iPod Touch or Mac? Well, friend, we have a deal for you! DropCopy 2009 is currently free from the App Store. The file transfer app was $5 until this morning. It has its fair share of flaws but it’s free.

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CrunchDeals: DropCopy for the iPhone is free

Kodak’s Flexible OLED Display Swims With the Fishes [Oled]

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 04:00 PM PDT

79ba8c1a24iginal.jpg Kodaks Flexible OLED Display Swims With the Fishes [Oled] Because even aquatic life needs to experience the hype surrounding flexible OLED displays, Kodak dunked one of theirs into a tank of water, turned it on, and recorded what happened next with a few pictures:

Long story short, the display turned on just fine and displayed a—wait for it—fish image.

While a bit quirky, the achievement is noteworthy simply because OLED displays, like some cats, despise water. But this one didn’t!

So now flexible OLED displays work under water, or at the very least in tiny cups surrounding by Playmobil people. [Plugged In via OLED Display]

Kodaks Flexible OLED Display Swims With the Fishes [Oled]

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Kodak’s Flexible OLED Display Swims With the Fishes [Oled]

Contest Extended: Resident Evil zombie tee

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 03:40 PM PDT

c8dfdec003rkside.jpg Contest Extended: Resident Evil zombie tee

Don't forget to enter the Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicle zombie tee contest brought to you by Capcom. If your beer belly and man boobs are hindering you from entering the contest then just send in a photo of yourself making a zombie face to contest at crunchgear dot com with the subject line "Me Want Brain" and don’t forget to tell us what size shirt you’d like. We have L and XL size tees. We’ll be running the contest until Tuesday.

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Contest Extended: Resident Evil zombie tee

Altoids: Curiously Strong, Curiously Hacked [DIY]

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 03:30 PM PDT

cb88b178815 orig.jpg Altoids: Curiously Strong, Curiously Hacked [DIY] Let’s get that Taste Test taste out of your mouths with a little after dinner mint, shall we? Then, when we’ve exhausted our supply of Altoids, we can be good little geeks and make zany things from the tins!

I’m thinking of 15 things, in fact, all of which are listed over at oobject in a handy little list.

There’s the “minty mp3 player,” for example, perfect for the subway. Or perhaps the iPod nano dock is more your style? No? You’d prefer an Altoids tin mouse? You’re in luck! Someone made one of those too. There are even two—yes two!—Altoids tin cameras to create as you sit back and digest all the wonderful content we’ve seen stream across the homepage this week.

Lastly, there’s also an Altoids UMD case, which is the perfect addition to any GameStop storeroom. Those worthless, unsold UMD movies won’t stack themselves, you know! [oobject]