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How to Look Thin In Photos


It's spring. And if you're like us, the results of your swimsuit diet aren't quite showing yet. If you've got any graduations or weddings coming up in the warmer months ahead, you're likely to get your picture taken. If the thought of a photographer makes you want to run, relax: We've found a few tips -- online, in books, from experts -- on looking thinner in pictures.

1. Use flashes in sunlight. According to Geek Sugar, it's all about the lighting. Flashes are good because they override the shadows that overhead sunlight might cast on your face, making for pronounced under-eye and chin shadows.

2. Lean in towards the camera. Digital Camera Tracker says leaning slightly towards the camera is helpful: "Think of having a long neck like a gazelle, and tilt your chin down just a bit to avoid the appearance of a double chin," the site suggests.

3. Stand like a ballerina. No, we're not kidding. While it stops short of recommending you wear a tutu, the 'Rocky Mountain News' says you need to pose like a ballet dancer: "The most flattering (read slimming) pose: Face front and cross one leg in front of the other, then turn your body at a 45-degree angle away from the camera and turn head and shoulders toward the camera. Place feet in ballet third position (one foot angled in front of the other)."

4. Put your hands on your hips. The 'Rocky Mountain News' says your shoulders might look less rounded this way.

5. Get a shot from below, as if you were on the runway. In Camilla Morton's new advice book for women, 'How to Walk in High Heels,' model Gisele Bundchen (pictured) is interviewed about how to look good, both in front of and away from the camera. For pictures, the runway-veteran agrees that lighting is crucial, but she adds a few tips on angles and poses: "For long legs, point one leg into the center of the frame and get the photographer to shoot looking up your body," says Bundchen. We just hope it's not up your nose, Gisele!

6. Get a shot from above. The best way to hide that double chin is to have someone shoot your face from a few inches above your head. Just find someone who's taller than you. Either you'll look up at them, which makes double chins disappear, or the area below your chin will be in shadow, and won't show up in the picture at all. For a group picture where you want everyone to look good, stand on a chair and have everyone look up at you: We've been using this technique at parties for years. It works!

7. Forget about looking thin and just relax. Not all experts agree with the stand-up-straight, pose-like-a-movie-star advice. We spoke to Edward Keating, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning photographer for the 'New York Times,' who was the principal photographer for the newspaper's 'Vows' column for seven years. He says that the best thing a subject can do to look good in photographs is to be relaxed and happy. "Look at the photographer, not at the camera," says Keating. "If they're connected with me, they're not thinking about the camera and the lens."

Earth-Friendly Tech Tips

Environment: What can I do?
So you gave your buddy a high-five when 'An Inconvenient Truth' won some Oscars -- that's a good start. Too bad some of your favorite gadgets -- not to mention the TV you used to watch the Academy Awards -- use up a boatload of energy, even when you think they're turned off. That said, some technologies can actually help you save energy and use fewer natural resources. The convenient truth is that taking proactive steps towards living a greener life is easier than you think. Here are just a few.

Upgrade Your Lightbulbs

Don't be scared off by the high sticker prices of GE's fancy compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs). CFLs use up to 75 percent less energy than incandescents (25 percent less than halogen), last up to 10 times longer and cost between 50 and 80 percent less to use. Only candlelight is cheaper -- but that's a fire truck on your front lawn waiting to happen.

Injectable Tumor Probe Tracks Cancer Treatments

Injectable Tumor Probe Tracks Cancer TreatmentsRadiation, in strong enough doses, is deadly. A short exposure can certainly kill, but controlled exposures can be useful, targeting cancer cells and helping patients to fight their disease and recover. However, the administration of radiation for cancer treatment has always been a bit of a black art, with doctors having to wait for days, weeks, or months after a treatment to check on whether a tumor has been affected. Now, a new radiation-detecting probe can let doctors know exactly how much that tumor has been affected, and can do so instantly.

The probe can be inserted directly into the tumor and report the exact dose of radiation received. From that information, doctors can calculate just how much radiation they need to apply to the patient and can more specifically target the dose, thereby decreasing the debilitating side-effects so common with cancer treatment. The probe is also RFID-enabled, meaning it can be identified and read wirelessly (in the same way that RFID technology wirelessly charges drivers with tolls when they pass through toll booths).

Right now the prototype probe is about the size of a pin -- long and narrow -- but future versions are expected to be shrunk to the size of a grain of rice. Trials are expected to begin in 2010 and, if all goes well, could usher in a new era of precision cancer treatments -- which could come in handy if all the doom and gloom about cell phone-induced cancer turns out to be true!

From Engadget

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LED Gadget Translates Your Dog's Tail Wags

LED Gadget Translates Your Dog's Tail Wags

We've seen toys that claim to decifer dog barks (and even fancy computers that can decode the barks of a particular breed of dog better than humans can), but we still haven't seen a big glowing sign that spells out what your dog is trying to say -- until now.

Okay, truth be told, you still won't, at least not at home, unless you run to New York's MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) for a demo at the Elastic Mind exhibit, since this device is just a concept.

The proposed device would attach to the dog's tail, measure his or her WPM (Wags Per Minute) and use that to figure out what he/she is trying to say. It would then spell out your canine's message in LED lights in mid air as the your dogs tail wags, turning it into a tacky novelty message board.

From Engadget

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Major Design Changes Planned for Apple's Laptops



According to AppleInsider, Apple's current MacBook and MacBook Pro designs will significantly change when Apple next refreshes its pro- and consumer-level laptop lines. The Mac news and rumor site reports that the MacBooks will see the biggest changes with eco-friendly aluminum and stainless steel exteriors replacing the current plastic cases.

Apple's Pro laptop line is looking particularly dated. Despite faster Intel chips and hardware improvements over the years, the design of the MacBook Pro has remained largely unchanged since its introduction in 2006. The MacBook Pro was largely modeled after the Aluminum Powerbook G4, Apple's older "pro" laptop that debuted all the way back in 2003. Apple updated the MacBook Pro line earlier this year with improved multi-touch mousepad support and improved hardware features, but again, there were few aesthetic changes.

The MacBook Pro design will be influenced by Apple's current iMac and MacBook Air designs, and AppleInsider says that "the end result... will be a more uniform Mac product matrix in terms of design and material usage, and a MacBook offering that will far outclass its rivals."

Don't miss AppleInsider's handy chart (halfway down the page) visualizing the evolution of Apple's laptop models since the late '90s. While we're definitely excited for a design refresh of Apple's laptop lines, we've all but given up hope that the Mac Pro's five-year-old looks will ever be updated.

from AppleInsider

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Drunk Newlyweds Tasered and Jailed


Ah, wedding night. A magical evening filled with frivolity and passion, and, evidently, non-lethal electrocution via taser.

Sigh.

A Vallejo, California couple was thrown in jail on their wedding night after a house party was repeatedly broken up by police. Neighbors reported hearing loud music late into the night and the party eventually headed outside.

The groom, evidently overjoyed by the prospect of everlasting marital bliss, became a bit too animated for police. He was treated to a healthy dose of electrical current after he stripped off his shirt and advanced toward officers with balled up fists. He got tasered. On his wedding night. Well played, sir.

Not to be outdone, the bride was also arrested for public intoxication. Both of them spent the evening in Solano County Jail.

We are aware that the economy is not at its strongest right now, but seriously, wasn't there an easier way to score a cheap room for the night? Here's hoping the rest of their lives go more smoothly than the first 24 hours of their marriage.


From CNN


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Man Gets $2.6 Million for Pizza.com Domain Name


There are easy ways to make loads of money. We swear. All you have to do is go back in time and buy up a bunch of domain names and then auction them off, well, now. Simple right?

A U.S. man just sold the domain name pizza.com for $2.6 million to an anonymous buyer.

Chris Clark, of North Potomac, Maryland, registered the domain name in 1994. He had originally hoped that the domain name would secure a contract with a pizza company for his consulting company. Surprisingly, it didn't work out, so he sold his businesses, but maintained the domain name for $20 a year. Now his forethought is being rewarded in a huge, huge way.

Clark got the idea after the domain name vodka.com sold for $3 million. He opened the auction on March 27th. After an initial bid of $100, the price jumped to $2.6 million a few weeks later. In a post-sale interiew, Clark expressed regret for not having purchased more domain names while the internet was still young.

Buddy, you and us both.


From BBC



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Boeing's Hydrogen-Powered Airplane Completes Test Flights

BoeingBoeing's European outpost has achieved a technical feat that, while not expected to revolutionize air travel, at least shows progress in the effort to lower the overall reliance on very pricey (and, you know, scarce) jet fuel.

Boeing Research & Technology Europe, which operates out of Madrid, has been working on the "Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane" since 2001. The goal has been to "demonstrate for the first time that a manned airplane can maintain a straight level flight with fuel cells as the only power source."

What does this mean on a practical level for regular folks like us? Not a whole heck of a lot, with most applications likely being for extending the fly time of unmanned aircraft -- although the technology could be applied to regular jets to help power the electrical systems.

Of course, like many scientific endeavors, the ultimate practical use may not yet be realized by the engineers involved. (Wasn't the active ingredient in Viagra originally intended to help people with hypertension? Researchers, of course, quickly realized an interesting side effect there. The same could always happen with fuel cells, no?)

Boeing sent a the piloted, fuel cell-powered aircraft into the air three times during February and March. The two-seat Diamond Aircraft Dimona motor-glider, with a 16.3m (53.5ft) wingspan, was modified with a proton exchange membrane fuel cell, lithium-ion battery hybrid system. Launched from Ocaña air field, near Madrid, Spain, the plane flew straight and level at 3,300 feet on fuel cell power alone for 20 minutes at 60 miles per hour.

From The Register.


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Man Dies Trying to Extract Gold From Computer Parts



Following the old adage, "There's gold in them thar computer parts," a man was poisoned a couple of weeks ago while trying to use mercury to extract gold from ... his computer parts. On Saturday, the man -- Tulsa resident Tony Winnett -- died. In the end, he lleft his home so contaminated that it cannot be lived in.

What was he thinking? Well, mercury chemically reacts with gold and causes it to separate, according to Durant/Bryan County Emergency Management Director James Dalton. Authorities believe that Winnett, along with his partner Melissa Lake, heated the mercury in an attempt to separate the gold and accidentally inhaled it.

Which should serve as a lesson to all you budding engineers: Learn your chemistry before taking apart your computer.

Atomically speaking, that is.

From Durant Democrat


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Couple Behind Fake Craigslist Ad Arrested

Couple Behind Bogus Craigslist Ad ArrestedLast week we brought sad news of a man in Oregon whose house and barn had been ransacked by eager bargain hunters responding to a bogus Craigslist ad. It indicated that the owner, Robert Salisbury, had to leave town unexpectedly, and so everything he owned was up for grabs. The ad was completely fake, and yet the man tragically lost much of his belongings since hoardes of folks took the ad seriously.

Since then, however, there have been the beginnings of a resolution with word from Oregon's KGW TV that the couple behind the fake posting has been arrested.

Amber and Brandon Hebert -- the accused marrieds -- were apparently looking to eliminate the traces of an earlier burglary. According to the report, the couple had gone to Robert Salisbury's home looking for barn space to rent. They later returned and stole some of his saddles and, looking to cover their tracks, posted the Craigslist ad so that the missing saddles would be the least of Salisbury's troubles.

The couple is being held with conspiracy to commit burglary and the rather vague sounding conspiracy to commit a computer crime. As for Salisbury's property, some of it has started to trickle in, but many of those who responded to the ad haven't shown up to bring things back. Police say that they are prepared to prosecute anyone who took anything from his home and who doesn't willingly return it, so if you took part in the looting of this poor guy's house, you know what to do.

From KGW.com

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50 Cent Launches MySpace-Like Social Networking Site



Never one to miss a marketing opportunity, rapper Curtis Jackson, a.k.a. 50 Cent, has opened the doors to his new social networking site, ThisIs50.com.

Sorta like MySpace for the G-Unit set (wait, isn't MySpace for the G-Unit set?), the site features embedded videos and music players, along with plenty of G-Unit marketing fodder mixed in for good measure. ("You have two new messages in your inbox! Also, buy Lloyd Banks' new album!")

Of course, Jackson is no newcomer to the world of cross-promotional opportunities. With a clothing line, sports drink, and videogame (along with its forthcoming sequel) under his belt, the G-Unit new media empire continues to expand.

And yet still, he lets his 7 year-old cousin create the site. WTF, dude.

From TechDigest

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Modder Builds Portable Version of Super Nintendo Entertainment System



Yearning for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo 16-bit glory days of console-based video gaming? Brian Henderson modified the guts of a Super Nintendo (SNES) system to run in a handheld plastic shell complete with speakers, AV out, a 5-inch display and a "Player 2" port for multi-player fun.

The only downside seems to be that the "SNESp" requires the physical SNES game cartridge. There aren't any plans for production, but we can't help thinking way back to the early '90s and afternoons spent playing classics like the original Mario Kart, Super Metroid, Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.


From TechEBlog

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Man Believes His Dead Wife is Contacting Him Via Cell Phone



It was five years ago when Frank Jones' wife and son died unexpectedly. His son, Steven, died of a brain tumor at an early 32. Three months later, his wife, Sadie died from a heart attack at the age of 69.

Sadie was a cell phone addict. "She always had a mobile with her," Jones told the Blackpool Gazette. So, of course, they buried Sadie with her cell phone.

Now Jones believes Sadie is getting service six feet under, and she has been sending him text messages with words only Sadie would say. Of course, there is no return number on the messages or missed calls, leading Jones to believe the communications are form his deceased wife.

Creepy? Yes. But here's where things get creepier: The house Jones lives in has a history of hauntings from a being called "The Thornton Thing". The entity drove a family from the house in 1971, and after the Jones family suffered hauntings as well, they had the house exorcised.

It wasn't until the untimely deaths of his wife and son did Jones start experiencing messages from beyond. The obvious question we can't help asking: What kind of service does one get up there? She's clearly getting a lot of dropped calls.

From the Blackpool Gazette

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Customizable Samsung Instinct Can Be Controlled By Voice (Sort of)

The days of actual tactile buttons seem to be numbered, at least that's what a slew of new cell phones would have you believe. Samsung's new Instinct, which made its official debut at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas yesterday, makes use of two currently hot ways to control your phone -- touchscreens (made popular by the iPhone) and voice-recognition.

Slim and light, the Instinct is jam-packed with state-of-the-art features, including EV-DO (for fast surfing, downloading, and live TV watching), GPS with turn-by-turn directions, a music player with direct-to-phone download capability, and a 2-megapixel camera. So far, a lot of these features are found on plenty of other phones, so why exactly should we care about the Instinct?

What makes the the Instinct stand out is its robust voice-recognition capability, which lets you do more than just dial numbers. In fact, by just pressing the "talk" button on the side and uttering commands such as call and text and then some names or numbers, you can save yourself a few keystrokes when you want to call or send text messages -- something that can come in handy when you're driving. Combined with GPS turn-by-turn navigational software, the voice-activation even lets you get results for nearby fast-food restaurants when you utter a word like McDonald's, for example.

Unfortunately, the voice-recognition stops there, as you'll have to physically press a button on the touchscreen to actually get the directions (a similar let-down comes when you're texting, since you can only use voice recognition to literally call up a number and send the text, not to actually type the text).

We got some hands-on with the phone yesterday, and found the touchscreen to be responsive, for the most part (the phone is still in test phases). The screen features haptic technology, which uses the cell phone's vibrate function to give the user the feeling that he or she is actually pressing down on physical keys.

We also liked the phone's customization features, which essentially let the user pick a series of widgets for music, mailing, GPS and other functions to show up on the phone's main screen.

The phone is due out by the end of June, on Sprint, and will cost $199.99 with a two-year contract. It requires purchasing an unlimited data plan, so the cheapest monthly rate will be $69.99 (which might make signing up for Sprint's $99 Simply Everything Plan a good idea).

For a deeper look at the Instinct's cool interface and functionality, check out Engadget's video walk-through of the device.


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Verizon Debuts Loopt Service To Track Friends, Pics By GPS

Loopt for Verizon mobile phones.

Verizon Wireless is getting in on the friend-tracking game, offering a $3.99 per month service for its GPS-capable phones that allows a user to note the location of a friend or where a picture was taken.

The service, called Loopt, allows people to share their location with anyone in their contact list or in their AOL Instant Messenger list.

Privacy controls are in place so each user adjust security settings. That way you can keep your location private, an important feature in any social network or shared service application where personal information is involved.

Sprint Nextel and its Boost Mobile brand have already included Loopt into its GPS-enabled phones. Helio provides a service that is similar to Loopt. Other wireless carriers have safety plans that allow parents to track where their kids are located.

From BetaNews.


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