Canon lens strap lens holder is quite a mouthful, but it is exactly as it sounds.
Lens Holder on Lens Strap by Mark Stevenson
I’m considering getting one as it would be nice to have a trusty, convenient place to put my lens cap. I hope the lens fit is extra secure.
(via giz)
An ad spotted on the subway for Luna Park:
Luna Park Subway Ad
The ad says “Follow Us” whereas each site offers different vocab for interaction:
Went to Staten Island today. The free ferry is convenient from downtown.
Staten Island Ferry Terminal
They’ve gotten very efficient with loading/unloading the ferry (I think, but I don’t have to take this as part of my commute).
St George Terminal Architecture
The terminal architecture is very photogenic.
Staten Island September 11 Memorial
The Staten Island memorial is very tastefully done. It contains granite plaques with a silhouette to honor each victim.
Staten Island September 11 Memorial
The memorial faces ground zero.
Staten Island September 11 Memorial
The memorial is situated in a park next to the Staten Island terminal and baseball field lighting is visible in the background.
Staten Island September 11 Memorial
Each silhouette bears the person’s info and can hold memorial flowers.
Staten Island September 11 Memorial
From the memorial site, NJ & NY fill the skyline.
Inspired by Danny Choo‘s long running A Week in Tokyo series (possible NSFW link), I want to post an odd assortment of photos taken around NYC in the month of May. Instead of one off twitpics, a series of unrelated NYC photos makes for good juxtaposition.
NYC Subway Ad
Dorky yet amusing.
Kalbi from Shilla Ktown
You can never have too much Kalbi.
Vintage Bowling Set
I don’t remember what UWS furniture store this came from.
Red Mango Fulton St Grand Opening
More pay by the ounce yogurt shops is a good thing. The white peach yogurt I got was a bit too runny
Soul Daddy sauces
South St Seaport area – Soul Daddy of American’s Next Great Restaurant fame
Xiao Long Bao sauce stacks
So great, so far away. Nan Xiang Dumpling House in Flushing
Shaved Ice topped with Condensed Milk
As you can tell, I’m never one to shy away from blanket generalizations! Condensed milk goes great with everything! So does tapioca pearls, aloe vera, and bacon (though not necessarily all in the same dish)
Also in Flushing, at Ice Fire Land
Uniqlo Captain Jack Sparrow Shirt
The Disney hype machine is building up for the latest Pirate’s movie. This shirt was spotted at Uniqlo
Goomba hats
From the Nintendo World store, goomba merch
Bowser backpack
You guessed it, from the Nintendo World store. I’d buy this, but $50 is too much for a novelty backpack
TSL3 Afterparty
From the TSL3 afterparty, you can see Thorzain in the background with the adidas three stripes garb
Brown Butter with Candied Bacon on Brioche Cookie
Coolhaus in NYC. That is one seriously heavy dessert
Monopoly Graffiti
Representing the streets of NYC
Chelsea Market exit
The Chelsea Market is a great example of repurposing old buildings (but this isn’t new news)
Whole Foods - Columbus Circle
Looking down at the Whole Foods in the Time Warner Center
Ran the 2011 Wall St 3M today.
This is my first NYRR event and it was well organized.
Issued T-Shirts & D-Tag
D-Tags are a nice way to track your time.
Starting Area - Greenwich Street
The wait for the race to start took longer than the actual race. Everyone assumed the worst – that it would rain at the 6:45p race start.
Post Finish Line - Apple Giveaway
If there’s one thing I learned, it’s that eating cold apples after running rocks.
Post Finish Line - Water Cups
After the finish line, there was water, pretzels, and apples. Also booths with free branded merch.
Post Finish Line - World Financial Center Plaza
Obligatory American Heart Association fundraising link. Not sure when the cutoff is, but someone said it goes through June.
Steve Jobs by Getty
Inside Apple by Adam Lashinsky:
Jobs imagines his garbage regularly not being emptied in his office, and when he asks the janitor why, he gets an excuse: The locks have been changed, and the janitor doesn’t have a key. This is an acceptable excuse coming from someone who empties trash bins for a living. The janitor gets to explain why something went wrong. Senior people do not. “When you’re the janitor,” Jobs has repeatedly told incoming VPs, “reasons matter.” He continues: “Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering.” That “Rubicon,” he has said, “is crossed when you become a VP.
This makes sense.
A junior employee at the bottom of the chain of command (such as a janitor) can have a legitimate excuse for why something was not done. It’s plausible that the janitor does not have the authority to get the key he needs, so it is not the janitor’s fault.
Whereas a member of management (such as a VP) has no excuse. If the key is missing, the VP has authority to find the person with the key, force open the door, hire a locksmith, etc. The VP needs to problem solve and cannot explain away things that were not accomplished as the VP has sufficient authority to get it done.
It’s interesting to note that Jobs is quoted using the term ‘reason’ and not ‘excuse.’ The former being legitimate and the latter being a scapegoat. That is, the former is only available to people at the staff level who are not sufficiently authorized/empowered.
(via MacStories via HN)
FPS games are not known for their creativity. Infinity Ward did a great job implementing perks & killstreaks that arguably improved or ruined the balance depending who you talk to. The box art of FPS blockbusters has not changed much.
For the record, I’ve enjoyed MW1 & MW2 extensively, but I’m not a fan of Treyarch’s CoD games.
Let’s take a look at the genre’s box art. The images below are copyright of Activision or EA, depending on the title.
possible Call of Duty: MW3 box art
Judging by the cover, the game looks pretty meh. Doesn’t matter though, since the CoD franchise sells gangbusters.
Call of Duy: MW2
This game has nukes, which is why everything is burning?
Call of Duty 4: MW
Judging by the cover again, nothing special. Gameplay is top-notch (G3 FTW)
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Here’s a CoD: Blops cover thrown in for comparison. It breaks the mold by not showing a full body visible soldier silhouette
possible Battlefield 3 box art
Evokes a futuristic feel. Looks cleaner than MW3’s cover. I’m not sure why MW3 & BF3 are competing over which cover guy is taking more damage
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Looks like the art designer had fun using clip art
Battlefield 2
Glad to see this soldier is not on fire. While not the best art design ever, this cover is at least clean & the version number is easily identifiable
Medal of Honor
Based on a real life soldier, Cowboy, this grayscale design is subtle and powerful. Too bad the franchise reboot wasn’t very solid?
The games above fit in the war FPS realism category. Other games in the FPS genre compete on aspects such as classes (think TF2, Brink), arcade mechanics (Bulletstorm) and super powers (Crysis 2).
Aiur Chef by Blizzard
From TeamLiquid:
Location: Break Bar and Billiards in New York City.
Address: 32-04b Broadway, Long Island City, NY 11106
Time and Date: Sunday, May 15th – 19:00 ESTTake the NQ uptown to Queens, get off at Broadway and walk one street southeast. Bar is located on the corner of Broadway and 32nd Street – Google Maps.
There is no RSVPing to this event. Break Bar holds 250 people. Yes, it’s in Queens, deal with it other borough residents!
*You must be at least 21 years of age to enter*
Some meta/random commentary about this post:
It exists!
fb phone screenshot
It’s been available on AT&T for a few years now.
This is what constitutes popular (good?) camera design today:
Olympus E-P1 digital pen
An obvious design throwback to the days of film cameras, but not very imaginative.
I’m of the firm belief that camera design as we know it today has tremendous room for change. Take the micro 4/3 standard that is mirrorless. It’s what enables the E-P1 above to be significantly slimmer than a traditional DSLR and retain interchangeable lenses. Going slimmer is just one possible direction.
Below are some camera concepts that break away from “the standard camera” look (think Leica).
D5R Concept by Ned Mulka
This is a neat concept, but not super practical. Why go through all that body change without a number of obvious benefits? Still, +1 for daring to make a camera body that doesn’t conform to legacy design.
WVIL Concept by Artefact
The WVIL concept excites me a lot more. I think the future of professional cameras may involve wireless lenses syncing to a generic touchscreen (think Android phone, iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad). The WVIL concept is great, but why reinvent the wheel with a proprietary touchscreen when an off-the-shelf generic touchscreen suffices?
I can easily envision a world where a professional photographer has many wireless lenses (perhaps with a gorilla pod each) that are all controlled by a single iPad remotely. All a person would have to do is set up multiple wireless lenses before a sporting event starts. During the event, the lenses would (since this is the future we’re talking about) take continuous ultra high-definition video. The touchscreen controller would be used to monitor focus and other settings.
iPhone 4
Another trend in camera hardware is the disappearance of noticeable hardware. With smartphones packing incredibly better cameras (as in “decent enough”), it’s possible to get high quality photos without carrying around a point and shoot. The trend of nearly invisible camera hardware will only get better as phone cameras improve.