Jesse Rosten got his hands on $4500 worth of iPads and decided to do a photoshoot with them. You may be thinking that this is totally pointless and for stills I might have to agree that this is overkill but a single iPad could be used to add softlight to extremely low lit scenes; something a small strobe could never do. An iPad can also change color temperature to match the ambient light around it. I see this being used more for video that stills anyway. Don’t believe me? Well you can buy this light panel for $500 and I’ll stick to my iPad.
Microsoft says that Kinect is the next big thing for video games, a way to control both games and TV without touching a thing. This expensive future is now. It's amazing, but you can wait for it.
The Kinect sensor is a device that plugs into an Xbox 360 and uses a combination of cameras and microphones to identify and track the movements of a person standing in front of it, as well as enabling voice control of games and video running on your TV. Wave your hands to play a game? Get your posture corrected by a virtual personal trainer? Tell ESPN to pause? Kinect does that.
Ideal Player
Kinect's launch offerings have something for everyone, even those who don't play games, but, for now, Kinect is a device for people with extra money and — very important — a lot of room in front of their TV. A lot.
Why You Should Care
Kinect isn't just hype. It is technology that goes beyond the microphones and cameras we've seen attached to game console before. It is sci-fi technology that Microsoft will be spending a lot of money to support for a while. Kinect isn't going away, so you might as well try it at some point. You might just love it.
Does Kinect really feel like something new? No doubt about it. The first time I used Kinect from my home couch to control my TV with simple hand gestures, I got chills. Sounds corny, but it felt like I was doing something extraordinary, just lifting my hand and using it to move a cursor around the screen. The fact that there is now a piece of technology we can hook up to our Xbox that can see whether we are dancing in time to Lady Gaga is amazing. It feels magical, except....
Does it work well? Or do you have to be in a lab to get it to operate right? Kotaku editor-in-chief Brian Crecente and I each used Kinects in our home with a variety of games for about a week before the November 4 launch. We've both had issues with some Kinect games not recognizing a gesture here or being slow to respond to another. We've each had the voice-control fail us once in a while, forcing us to repeat whatever we barked at the Kinect. He's had it worse, seeing some games simply break, like the time Kinect Sports didn't let him detach a virtual bowling ball from his virtual hand. But it is impossible to say if the flaw is in the Kinect hardware or in the games. Some games, such as Dance Central and Kinectimals, are polished and seldom show cracks. Others suffer. Such are the problems that happen at the launch of hardware and software. Only time can reveal where improvements can and will happen.
Is this basically the Wii all over again? Sort of. The Wii was a shock to gaming. Motion control was not mainstream, and Nintendo smartly introduced it to the masses with a small number of games that worked well with a small number of gestures. It succeeded magnificently because of that relatively conservative strategy. Kinect, on the other hand, is as ambitious as it is scattershot. Ignore the gaming aspects and Kinect still feels important as a viable new way to use voice and gesture to control downloaded movies through the Xbox's Zune channel or to watch sporting events streamed through the regional ESPN3. But the options for control input with gesture and voice are so broad, and the line-up of launch games so diverse, that Kinect fails to do any one thing excellently. There's no Wii Sports in the line-up. Is it the Wii again, though? Well... there's a workout game, a sports compilation, an arcade racer and so on... the imitation is shameless.
Does it replace the game controller? No. Some Kinect games feel like they'd be better with a controller. Others, like Dance Central, wouldn't be as fun. A comparison to a controller is apt, though, because gesturing to control a game feels as relatively convoluted and slightly slow as using a control stick. Kinect voice control, on the other hand, feels like it can be as precise as pressing a button. Buttons and control sticks together are a great combo; voice and gesture feel like just as terrific a pairing. This is the right Kinect combo, and it's a pity the launch games go so heavy on gesture and so light on voice.
The worst knock on Kinect seems to be that it needs a lot of room. True? Sadly, yes. You can play single-player Kinect games at the same distance you've held a wired game controller plugged into a game console. For multiplayer or for more dynamic dancing and workout games you need more space than you do to play four-player Wii Sports tennis, more space than you need to jam with a full group in Rock Band. Can you fit a pool table in front of your TV? You'll need about that much real estate, because the Kinect sensor needs to see you. Can't be too close; can't be too far to the side. Be it my Brooklyn condo or Crecente's more standard-sized Denver house, we both had to adjust our living rooms to fully enjoy Kinect. Those with cramped quarters could find Kinect to be a non-starter.
Microsoft says this is essentially a new console, that Kinect is a new platform. True? Maybe, but it's at least right to say that Kinect is launching the way a new console does: with raw potential and some half-baked execution. At launch you can discover wonderful details, like the fact that Dance Central and Kinect Joy Ride pause when you step away from your TV. But you can also find frustration at games that don't share the same methods for skipping cut-scenes or advancing through menus. Without a controller in your hand, you will feel less capable of figuring out what's wrong, of tapping a button with elevator-door-close urgency to remedy a situation. It's confusing to be using a Kinect on day one. You may fall in love with the voice control, as I did, but then switch from ESPN to Zune and discover that the former doesn't use the same voice controls as the latter. These wrinkles need ironing.
But the million-dollar question is: Is it worth $150? The Kinect comes with a full game, Kinect Adventures, which will take some of the sting out of the price. But it also comes with the inconsistencies described above and the lack of a killer app, the lack of a perfect game. At launch, Kinect merits a visit to your friend's house if you hear he or she has it. But it's not must-own yet, more like must-eventually own.
It was ironic that in searching for an electric socket in which to plug my Kinect a week ago, I had to unplug my Wii. I now need to find a second socket. Kinect doesn't replace the Wii any more than it does an Xbox controller. It's not even a sure thing as a games platform, not until it has its first great game. But it doesn't have to be. If Kinect becomes nothing more than a replacement for the TV remote, it'll prove to be a winner. For its launch price, though, it needs to be more. If Microsoft keeps supporting it, and if its flaws can be patched and improved through software, Kinect can be revolutionary.
Kinect was developed by and published by Microsoft for the Xbox 360, released on November 4. Retails for $149.99, bundled with a copy of Kinect Adventures. Two Kinect sensors were given to us by Microsoft for reviewing purposes. We used Kinect extensively for the better part of the week. Came for the gesture control; were won over by the voice-control.
Kotaku has more reviews, hands-on impressions and video of Kinect in action right here.
Call of Duty isn't only enjoyed by businesswomen, construction workers, line cooks and hotel concierges—professional basketball players and late night talk show hosts love it too! Or so says the first, explosive Call of Duty: Black Ops ad.
Activision and Treyarch tap the star power of Kobe "Mamba" Bryant and Jimmy "Proud n00b" Kimmel to shill the next big Call of Duty game, hitting the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC and Wii next week. Celebrities, they spray 'n' pray, they spam grenades, they fire wild RPGs — they're just like us!!
We recently went through a few ways to break into a Windows PC without the password, and it turns out it's just as easy to break into a Mac too. Here's how to do it and keep yourself protected.
Just like on Windows, there are quite a few ways to break into a Mac, but many of them are variations on the same thing, so we're going to highlight the two easiest ways—one with a Mac OS X installer CD and one without—and show you how to keep yourself protected. Note that while these two methods will get you into the OS without knowing the password, you can always just use our previously mentioned "lazy method" with a Mac too—just boot up the computer with a Linux Live CD and start grabbing files.
How to Reset the Mac OS X Password
Both of the methods outlined below are ways to reset the Mac OS X password. While there are cracking utilities like John the Ripper or THC-Hydra, they're either complicated to use or expensive to buy, so we won't go into them here like we did with Windows (which has the very easy-to-use Ophcrack). Both of these methods assume the target computer is running Snow Leopard.
Method One: Use the Mac OS X Installer CD
If you have the Mac OS X installer CD handy, it's super easy to change the administrator account's password. Just insert the CD into the target Mac and hold the "c" key as you boot up the computer. It will boot into the Mac OS X installer. Once it does, head up to Utilities in the menu bar and choose Password Reset. You'll get a window prompting you to select the drive on which OS X is installed; so choose the drive you want to get into and select the user who's password you want from the drop-down menu.
Enter a new password for that user and hit the save button. That's it! When you reboot the computer, you can use your new password to log into the computer. Note that unfortunately, you still won't be able to unlock the Keychain, so if what you're trying to access has another layer of password protection, you won't be able to access it.
Method Two: Boot into Single-User Mode
If you don't have an installer CD handy, you just need to do a bit of fancy command-line footwork to achieve the same end as the CD method. Boot up the computer, holding Command+S as you hear the startup chime. The Mac will boot into single user mode, giving you a command prompt after loading everything up. Type the following commands, hitting Enter after each one and waiting for the prompt to come up again before running the next one:
Replace whitsongordon with the user who's account you want to access and lifehacker with the new password you want to assign to that user.
If you don't know the users username, it should be pretty easy to run ls /Users at any time during single user mode to list all the home folders on the Mac, which usually correspond to the usernames available on the Mac. Note that, once again, this doesn't give you access to the OS X Keychain, so anything protected with another layer of password s will be off-limits.
How to Protect Your Mac from Being Broken Into
Luckily, while it's pretty easy to break into a Mac, it's also just as easy to protect yourself. Just like last time, our main recommendation is encrypting your entire OS. Note that this does not mean use OS X's built-in FileVault tool. We weren't impressed with FileVault the last time we looked at it, and it turns out it's pretty easy to get past FileVault's protection.
Instead, we recommend you use our favorite free, open-source encryption tool TrueCrypt. It came out with a Mac version back in 2008, and it still works wonderfully at encrypting entire partitions and drives on your computer. And, since anyone wanting to boot the computer needs to know your TrueCrypt password, they'll never even get to the password reset stage—so all your files will be safe.
Update: As many of you have pointed out in the comments, I misunderstood a few things about both FileVault and TrueCrypt. FileVault is not easily bypassable, and while it won't encrypt your entire drive, it should keep you safe from the above methods. TrueCrypt cannot currently encrypt an entire boot drive on a Mac.
However, you also pointed out that there's another simple way to keep people from resetting your password, and that's using a firmware password. If you have a Mac OS X installer CD, you can boot up from it and go to Utilities > Firmware Password Utility and set a firmware password. This prevents other folks from being able to boot up your computer from another hard disk, CD, or in single user mode. Someone with bad intentions could still bypass it, but it would quite a bit of alone time with your hardware. So, for best results, you'll probably want to encrypt your files with FileVault and set up a firmware password.
As always, these are just a few of the easiest ways to break into a Mac. Do you know of any others? Share them with us in the comments (don't forget to share their weaknesses, too, so we know how to protect ourselves from them)
For those of you who ever thought men were incapable of multitasking, meet the man who could possibly be the most efficient person in the world.. or the most dangerous.
He was spotted driving down a freeway at speeds of up to 60 mph with not only a book in front of him, but also a Kindle e-book reader. If that wasn’t bad enough, he momentarily stops to check his cell phone--no doubt he had an important message coming in. Enjoy the mayhem below.
Eyeglasses are scary expensive, and most of it is markup. You can save a whole lot with smart online shopping, but if you prefer hands-on (face-on?) time with your specs, Costco is the place to go.
Consumer Reports did some shopping around, and their independent testers found that Costco won out not just in price—at a median cost of $157 per pair, compared to $211 at independent stores and $212 at doctors' offices—but in quality good that stood up to regular wear conditions. As for those of us living outside Costco's convenience range, independent stores were the way to go for service, know-how, and good frames, the magazine reports in its latest issue of CR Health.
Managing your personal relationships on a social networking site is difficult enough; but when you add coworkers to the mix, it becomes even trickier.
Whether you embrace Facebook's philosophy of public transparency or resist it, you cannot afford to ignore it. As for dealing with coworkers, consider following this one simple rule: Don't think about how to handle them in terms of Facebook; rather, think of how to interact with them appropriately -- and then apply that philosophy to Facebook.
Just Say No: Why make things more complicated than they need to be? Avoid friending coworkers -- period. If you're concerned that you might offend someone, explain that your refusal isn't personal, but rather a matter of professional policy.
Toe the Party Line (While on the Party Line): Facebook isn't a private phone call, it's more like a party line. Don't complain about your insufferable boss, your ineffectual coworkers or your demanding client unless you're prepared for everyone to know exactly what you said.
Be Professional: Facebook postings aren't celebrated for their decorum, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be. Indeed, you should approach coworkers on Facebook with the same professionalism as you would in the workplace -- possibly even more, since you have less control over who views your comments online
Lee Morris of rlmorris.com and fstoppers.com explains how to wirelessly send pictures from any camera to an iPad or iPhone using the Eye-Fi Pro X2 SD card, My Wi, and Shutter Snitch. Fstoppers will be giving away a free iPad to one of their random twitter followers in December of 2010. Visit Fstoppers.com/iPad to learn more details about this hack and the iPad giveaway. You can purchase the Eye-Fi Pro X2 card here: bhphotovideo.com/c/product/676551-REG/Eye_Fi_EYE_FI_8PC_8GB_Pro_X2_SDHC.html/BI/6857/KBID/7410
Just as the clothes you choose to wear, the food you like to eat, and the people you associate with say something about you, so does the camera system you buy into. The following observations are based on close association with the various groups of camera owners and from having belonged to each group at one time or another. Those who belong to the “lacking any sense of humor” or “offended at the drop of a hat” groups are strongly advised to read no further.
Canon owners You appreciate the benefits of owning a camera system that leads in cutting-edge digital imaging technology and that offers a wealth of body, lens, and accessory options for every level of photographer, from lowly consumer to top professional. You will switch to Nikon.
Nikon owners You appreciate the benefits of owning a camera system that leads in cutting-edge digital imaging technology and that offers a wealth of body, lens, and accessory options for every level of photographer, from lowly consumer to top professional. You will switch to Canon.
Sony owners You believe that Sony’s innovations in consumer electronics and video technology, its leadership in digital imaging chip production, its in-body image stabilization, and its use of Zeiss optics results in a unique design synergy and products of exceptional value—because that’s what it says in the product literature. You also believe in astrology, UFOs and the Easter Bunny.
Pentax owners You’re the sort of person who would buy a $1500 DSLR body so your stash of thread-mount, K-mount and M-mount lenses from decades ago (collectively worth $75.00 at a flea market or yard sale) won’t go to waste; either that, or you’ve never heard of a Spotmatic, Pentax LX or Takumar, you just think you look cool sporting a day-glo red camera that takes real pictures. You think people are laughing with you, not at you.
Olympus owners You’re the sort of person who buys North Korean beer, Peruvian underwear, and French cars, not because you actually like them but because no one else does. When people question your choice of camera system you respond that Olympus images have a certain “soul” and that photographs are what matter, not the camera. You have no friends.
Leica owners You know that no other camera other than a Hasselblad gains as much instant respect among the cognoscenti as a Leica. Although this relieves the pressure of demonstrating actual photographic prowess, it increases the need to be familiar with the subtle differences in visual signature between an Elmar, Elmarit, Summitar, Summicron, and Summilux. You are either stinking rich, living in your mother’s basement, or one lens purchase away from a divorce.
Panasonic, Fuji, Samsung, Minolta, Yashica owners and et cetra should be relieved rather than offended that they were not included. Comments are welcome as long as they are civil. Extra points will be given for self-deprecation.
Engaging in social media is about being extremely open, creative and flexible. To stay competitive online, brands need to be investing in social media as a way to extend themselves to their customers.
While advertising and cultivating an image are still important, it’s interaction that creates loyal customers. Using social media to show customers that your business is connected to what they say, think and feel about your products can amplify your brand’s message.
We’ve compiled a list of five big brands that are most engaged in social media, and that go to extensive lengths to connect with consumers. Add your own thoughts on which brands are ahead of the curve in the comments below.
Starbucks is on just about every corner in the real world, and that’s the same strategy the company has taken online as well. When it comes to a web presence, Starbucks has made its mark on Twitter (), Facebook (), YouTube (), Foursquare (), mobile apps and with its own social network, My Starbucks Ideas. The company dominates the social media landscape, creating active and engaging profiles on a variety of platforms. And according to some reports, Starbucks is the most engaged brand using social media for a few years running.
Take a quick look at the coffee giant’s Twitter page, and you’ll see the company has just more than 1 million followers. The next thing you’ll notice is that there’s a lot of conversation going on. Starbucks is keeping busy responding to mentions, apologizing for bad experiences, and just carrying on some interesting conversations with its followers.
Meanwhile on Facebook, more than 15 million people “Like” the brand. And Starbucks is trying to make buying its product as integrated and seamless as possible. Take, for example, the Starbucks Card Facebook application it introduced this past April, which allows customers to manage their Starbucks Card accounts from within the social network. The company also recently announced that customers could now “Give a Gift” and credit their friends’ cards via Facebook, too.
That feature is an idea born out of their community site, My Starbucks Idea. The Seattle-based caffeine king wants to know what you want from Starbucks, and the company is listening. The site enables consumers to share their ideas and critique others’ ideas as well. Discussions are encouraged, and the community votes to see which ideas become reality. The “Give a Gift” idea was suggested back in 2008, and drew more than 42,000 votes. It may have taken some time for the idea to become a reality, but it shows that Starbucks is listening to its customers.
As one of the most universally recognized brands, it’s not surprising that Coca-Cola is the second most engaged brand according to Famecount. Just like Starbucks, Coke is active on Twitter, engaging in conversation with its 142,000 followers. Given that it has a worldwide following, it’s appropriate that many of the tweets are written in different languages. In addition to its overarching brand, each drink it produces also has its own Twitter page.
On Facebook, it’s somewhat astounding that 15 million people “Like” the soft drink empire, but the company has done a good job of keeping things interesting and interactive. The Page is a hub of all sorts of activity, including posting fan photos, videos and social good initiatives like Live Positively, where fans voted for America’s favorite park to receive a $100,000 grant.
On Coca-Cola’s YouTube channel, the soda company launched “Unlock The Secret,” a viral video campaign featuring Coke’s inventor, Doc Pemberton. By clicking on bottle links in the videos, viewers are taken to the @docpemberton Twitter page, Coke’s Ahh Giver app on Facebook (which allows users to send a message to a friend delivered in video format by the Coke polar bear), and Coke’s Smilezier, a novel feature that allows users to record their laughter and listen to other people’s as well.
All of these efforts tie together Coca-Cola’s brand of happiness, and it’s created an interesting and original experience while engaging with consumers online.
Oreo is the third most engaged brand according to Famecount, and for a brand that’s been around since 1912, racking up 12 million “Likes” on Facebook is a great way to prove that good products have real staying power.
For Kraft, makers of the delicious black and white cookie, Facebook outreach has been the main strategy. While other brands are engaged across the board, Oreo hasn’t leveraged Twitter at all yet.
The Oreo Facebook Page is a place to find recipes, videos, photos of fans enjoying the cookie, and games like Twist To Win for a chance to meet the Double Stuf Racing League (Shaquille O’Neal, Apolo Ohno, Eli Manning and Venus Williams).
The DSRL’s videos are the main focus on Oreo’s YouTube channel, including interviews with the athletes, commercials, and behind-the-scenes footage.
Check out Kraft Foods’ digital and social marketing lead Beth Reilly speaking on “how Oreo learned to fish where the fish are” in the video below.
Skittles has an amazing online presence, starting with its website — a vibrant landing page that invites you to “Experience The Rainbow” by interacting with various features throughout the on-site experience. Users have opportunities to vote and post photos and videos while interacting with content. Keeping with the community theme on another site, Share Skittles is the place where YouTube videos of fans eating Skittles are posted.
While Skittles hasn’t quite figured out how to leverage Twitter, logging little more than 6,000 followers and producing some really weird tweets, more than 12 million “Likes” show they managed to figured out how to make use of Facebook.
The “Mob The Rainbow” feature was an innovative effort that strove to bring fans together to create something big. The first mob was a massive outpouring of Valentine’s Day greetings to a person who doesn’t get much love: a parking enforcement officer. Fans were asked to either make a card on the site or get the address and send one on their own — 43,037 cards were sent. Since the launch of Mob The Rainbow last year, fans have completed three mobs, with plans for a fourth one to “crash” an 85-year-old grandmother’s birthday party. It’s a brilliant way to engage the company’s audience with social good and keep its quirky image alive.
Red Bull is a brand that is associated with procrastination and the need for energy — last-minute studying, late-night partying, early morning meetings or classes, and the ability to keep you awake at almost any hour of the day.
With social media, though, the Austrian company has something more to offer than salvation from long work days and early morning grumpiness. With more than 10 million “Likes” on Facebook, it offers a really cool and interactive Facebook Page that appeals to the brand’s core consumer.
The Procrastination Station, featured on its Games page, offers high quality, engaging and interactive options for procrastinators, including a soapbox car racing game, a rock, paper, scissors game, and “Drunkish Dials” recordings — recordings of Red Bull drinkers who called the company’s toll free number, leaving “drunkish” messages. Yep, that’s what happens if you leave them a ridiculous drunken message — they’ll put it online.
Plus, they’ve run creative contests like 2009’s Red Bull Stash, where the company hid Energy Shots all over the country and posted clues on its Facebook wall. It was the company’s way of thanking fans when it hit the 1 million fan mark. Currently, the company has teamed up with San Francisco Giants player Tim Lincecum to create an ongoing scavenger hunt for 11 autographed baseballs hidden on the streets of San Fran. A picture of each baseball has been uploaded at a specific location and the first fan to arrive and check in with Facebook Places and the password “San Francisco’s Got Wings” wins the coveted ball.
The company has also done an impressive job on the mobile front with the Red Bull X-Fighters app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, the Red Bull TV app, and the Red Bull BPM app that turns your iPhone into a complete DJ setup. All these apps are great extensions of the brand’s core product, and complementing the consumer’s lifestyle goes a long way.
Michael Warf 
Michael Warf 
Call of Duty isn't only enjoyed by businesswomen, construction workers, line cooks and hotel concierges—professional basketball players and late night talk show hosts love it too! Or so says the first, explosive Call of Duty: Black Ops ad.
If you have the Mac OS X installer CD handy, it's super easy to change the administrator account's password. Just insert the CD into the target Mac and hold the "c" key as you boot up the computer. It will boot into the Mac OS X installer. Once it does, head up to Utilities in the menu bar and choose Password Reset. You'll get a window prompting you to select the drive on which OS X is installed; so choose the drive you want to get into and select the user who's password you want from the drop-down menu.
Instead, we recommend you use our favorite free, open-source encryption tool 
