Informer's World

Steve Jobs has just posted a long open letter on Flash, listing all the reasons why Apple has decided not to support it on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

The letter is a clear, sober, in-depth view in all of Flash’s defects from Apple’s point of view, and while we’re sure it will be dissected over and over in the upcoming days (especially the part about Flash not being open), you have to admire its frankness.

In short, Steve Jobs claims Flash drains the battery of mobile devices; it’s not very good for multi-touch operation, and its performance, reliability and security are all shoddy. It’s also a proprietary system, and while Jobs admits that their mobile OS is also proprietary, he claims that web standards should be open, like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript.
Most importantly Apple doesn’t want “a third party layer of software (to) come between the platform and the developer.” Finally, Jobs concludes, Flash is a relic. “Flash was created during the PC era –- for PCs and mice,” he says, “but the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards –- all areas where Flash falls short.”
Read the entire letter here.

Photo Manipulations are always very interesting to watch because because they give a realistic view of an unreal picture. And one Swedish artist has turned the world on its head by taking photos of everyday life and distorting them into mind-boggling pieces of art.

Erik Johansson, a 23-year-old computer engineering student, from Sweden has a sense for good ideas for manipulations. While most people try to hide when they use Photoshop to brush up their pictures, Erik Johansson quite obviously distorts images but does it so cleverly that we almost start believing in the amazing illusions he creates.

In one shot (see the photo above,) a man appears to pick up a tarmac road and drag it behind him like a sheet; in another a young man seems to be ironing his own two-dimensional body (see the photo below.)


Unlike digital artists who find random pictures they can build upon, Johansson’s work is his own, 100 per cent. He comes up with an idea for a new image, sets out to take the pictures and then gets to work at them with imaging software. In many of his stunning images, he is even the model whose face gets distorted, who strolls through a summer landscape or is a mere marionette hanging by threads.

Erik, who lives in Gothenburg, Sweden, said: “I get inspiration from almost everywhere. I actually get most of the ideas from things that happen in my daily life.”


Johannson got his first digital camera at age 15 and even though he started manipulating the images he took early on, initially he did it solely for fun. Only when he bought his first SLR camera in 2007 did he start taking photo retouching and manipulations more seriously.

Asked in an interview with Abduzeedo.com about “where does his inspiration come?!” from and “how does he come up with the ideas?” Johannson said: “That is a hard question because I can’t really tell. The inspiration is everywhere in the daily life, but I also look a lot at photos and drawings on the web. I think the most important thing is to make a note of every idea, otherwise it will might be gone in a few seconds.”

Given the skill level involved, he estimates that each of his photographs takes between 10 and 20 hours from concept to final image. Asked in an interview with abduzeedo.com about his workflow, he admits: “I always have a sketch of the final idea. But it always ends up different, in a good way mostly. When I have come up with an idea I try to find good spots to use for the photos and then it’s time for the photoshopping.”

The young photographer draws inspiration from artists like M.C. Escher, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte and others but also from photos and drawings he sees on the Net. He shares some advice on keeping the good ideas coming: “I think the most important thing is to make a note of every idea, otherwise it might be gone in a few seconds.”

In an interview with Don’t Panic magazine, Johannson explained the motifs behind his work: “My goal is to make pictures as realistic as possible, but at the same time impossible. Many photographers try to look weird, so I try to make my shots as plausible as possible. I would say I try to use humour a lot and I rarely have a didactic message. Sometimes I want to tell something, but mostly I want people to interpret.”

Erik Johansson said: “To look at a situation in a different and unexpected way can sometimes generate ideas but the best ideas I get just come to me. Everything I do is very well planned. I almost never go out photographing without any idea about what I will do with the photos. Looking for the right place to shoot the photos is actually what takes up most of my time.”

“The time required to put the photo together is very different depending on the photos that I have. It mostly takes between 10 to 20 hours, sometimes more. ‘I like to change my photos in impossible and strange ways. From the beginning I started to modify photos just for fun, and I still think it is,” he added.

Check more stunning photographs on Erik Johansson’s personal website or see his profile in a swedish community.

Facebook now displays detailed invite history to all their users.
1. If you would like to know who all have joined Facebook because of you, go here.
2. If you would like to see a list of all people whom you have invited to join Facebook but they are yet to accept your invitation, go here.
3. If you like to know who in your friends circle has brought the maximum number of people to Facebook so far, go to facebook.com/impact.
The Facebook Invites history page also gives an option to send email reminders to friends who are yet to join the social site incase your previous invites went unnoticed or if they landed in the junk folder.

Setting up a wireless home network is pretty simple now. Get a wireless router, connect the Internet port of the router to your broadband modem and then connect any of the numbered LAN ports to the desktop computer through an Ethernet cable.
Wireless G (or 802.11g) routers offer fairly good Wi-Fi signal strength but if you plan to transfer large files or stream videos around the house, you may well consider switching to a slightly more expensive Wireless N (or 802.11n) router – these offer better signal strength and higher data transfer speeds than Wireless G routers.
There’s however one problem with Wi-Fi signals emanating from your wireless router – they only have a limited range. The wireless signal strength will degrade as the distance between the router and your laptop increases and it will further weaken if you have too many brick walls in the house or if your computer is located on a different floor than the router.

Ways to Boost the WiFi Signal Strength

If you too have a problem getting Wi-Fi signals in every corner of your house, here are some tips (and accessories) to help you extend the range of your wireless network.
#1. Install the DD-WRT* firmware on your wireless router – this might help increase the range of your Wi-Fi router by a few meters if not more.
To increase the signal strength, you can increase the router’s transmit power and also disable both frame burst and afterburner (the settings can be accessed from the router’s web dashboard). If DD-WRT firmware is not available for your router, try the Tomato firmware on your router.
#2. Most routers have omni-directional antennas so they emit wireless signals in all directions (just like a light bulb).
That’s fine if you have placed the router in a central location but if the router is in some corner of your room or against a wall, consider adding a home-made reflector behind the antennas of your router.
#3. InSSIDer is a free utility that can help you detect the presence and strength of wireless networks. Install InSSIDer on your laptop, walk around the house with your laptop to determine the wireless signal strength at various places and, based on this information, you can quickly find a more suitable location for the router.
#4. Ideally, you should place the router at a height in some central location and away from other cordless devices. Make sure that the router is not placed near something metallic (like an almirah or window grills) as that will weaken the wireless signals. Avoid mirrors as they can reflect the wireless signals away from the desired direction.
#5. Wireless routers generally ship with omni-directional antennas but you can replace them with more powerful uni-directional antennas and that will keep the signal from getting broadcast in all directions.
If you can’t find a compatible directional antenna for your router model, consider a booster antenna that’s omni-directional but will still boost both the range and strength of wireless signals.

Extend the range of WiFi signals with Hardware

If your router is placed on the ground floor of your home, the Wi-Fi signals will be very weak or may not even reach the basement computer or the printer upstairs. The situation will be no different if you work in a fairly large premises or if there are too many walls in the area.
In that case, here are some hardware device that you can consider to extend the reach of your Wi-Fi network:
Option #1. You can attach a WiFi Repeater (also known as Wireless Range Expander) to your router and quickly expand the coverage of your wireless network without using any cables.
The Repeater should be placed within the range of your existing router and it will reflect the signals to other areas where the wireless reception was earlier poor (or totally absent). The Repeater can connect wirelessly to both routers and access points (see #3 below).
Option #2. (This is my current setup) You can get another wireless router and connect it to your existing router using an Ethernet cable. The advantage is that this setup comes pretty cheap and the Internet speed stays almost the same even for computers that are accessing the web via the new router.
You can get a 100 feet long Ethernet Cable (also known as Cat5 or LAN or RJ45 cable) for less than $10 and wireless routers start at $20.
Option #3. You also have the option to use an Access Point instead of a router to extend the WiFi range but that’s often not required because Wireless Access Points can be more expensive than equivalent routers.
The other advantage with a router is that is has extra LAN ports so, in future, you can connect more wired computers for sharing files or you Internet connection.
Option #4. If you have an old desktop or laptop computer, you should consider adding an external (USB based) wireless adapter or upgrade the internal network card to improve the wireless reception (and thus Internet speed).

A
dobe After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software. Its main purpose is for film and video post-production. With Adobe After Effects it’s possible to create so great looking visual effects as in “Hollywood style” movies. Adobe After Effects is mainly used to create visual effects for commercials and movies but you can also create image slide-shows, some small videos, transition effects for websites and stuff like that.

It is not difficult to learn by your own. You only need to find some good tutorials and you are ready to start. There are a lot of good tutorials these days, just try to search for them on the Internet. Here is a massive collection of Adobe After Effects tutorials which, in our opinion, are very useful for learning After Effects. They are categorized in these following section for your learning convenience: Beginners, Intermediate users and Advanced users. Enjoy the beauty of Adobe After Effects!

For beginners

Introduction to Adobe After Effects | Andrew Kramer

Basic effects | Andrew Kramer
Learn to create some basic effects using After Effects.

Animation | Andrew Kramer
Now you can learn how to create an animation.

Trim Paths | Aharon Rabinowitz
Learn how to create simple trim paths.

Simple Reflection Techniques | Aharon Rabinowitz
Very simple but cool technique creating reflections.

Web 2.0 Glossy Text | Matt Evans
Learn to create a glossy text.

How to track motion in Adobe After Effects CS3 | cgsutra.com
This useful tutorial explains how to track motion in After Effects.

Boharg II Breakdown | David Madry
Learn to set different speed for your footage and also learn how to set a color correction.

Starting with After Effects | Pascal Verstegen
Great tutorial explaining how to transform work from Photoshop to simple animation using After Effects.

Rendering | Shoaib Khan
Learn about rendering your video.

For Intermediate Users

Creating 3D Cloud Motion From a Still Image | Aharon Rabinowitz
Very useful effect for cloud motion. It gives much more realistic feeling than just a moving image.

Heart Rate Monitor | Shoaib Khan
Learn how to create a cool heart rate monitor.

Car Light Trails | Shoaib Khan
Shows how to create car light trails in After Effects.

Light Sabers | Andrew Kramer
Learn how to create Star Wars style Jedi.

Create a Split-Flap Type Display | Mattias Peresini
Very cool looking animation.

Creating Fire | Steve Holmes
Learn how to create a fire effect.

Adjustment Lights | Eran Stern
One way how to create adjustment lights.

Create an Elegantly Handwritten Text Reveal | Jurrien Boogert
Good looking effect for intro or outro.

Animating Spray Paint and Stencil Effect | Haley
Amazing soray paint effect.

Ink Bleeding Effect | Barton Damer
Learn how to create an interesint ink bleeding effect.

The Dark Knight | John Dickinson
Shows how to create a cool dark knight effect as on the poster.

Keep Your Eye on the Ball | Steve Holmes
Create a 3D looking ball animation using After Effects.

Creating a Force Field Effect | Aharon Rabinowitz
Useful effect if you are creating futuristic videos.

Color Grade and Enhance a Horror Shot | James Twyman
Useful tutorial to get a horror film feeling.

Growing 3D Vines | Jerzy Drozda Jr
Create 3D vines using After Effects only, no other 3D programs.

Create a TV bumper | Harry Frank
Very simple but cool animation.

Create an Animated Homage to Bruce Lee | Markus Gustafsson
Brilliant video including very cool text and image transitions. This tutorial also teaches how to use an audio for your video.

How to Create Glowing Elegant Lines | Haley Saner
Learn how to create an animation with elegant lines.

Smokey Type Effect | Steve Holmes
Basic smoke effect for a text.

Flaming Chrome Text | J. Schuh
Create an animation of flaming text.

Jumbotron Column | John Dickinson
Creating a jumbotron column for your video.

Learn How to Create an Advanced Jumper Effect | Tim Babb
Create a "Jumper" style effect.

Shine Some Light On The Situation | Marc R Leonard
Great looking effect with beautiful lighting and sky.

Designing a Graphic From Scratch | Nick
Useful tutorial for creating some cool video using only scratches.

Creating a Tracked Head Wound | Mathias Mohl
Learn to create a head wound which is tracked in constant position on the face.

Bessie Potter | Michael Park
Create a movie title just like in "Harry Potter".

For Advanced Users

"Private Ryan" Style Movie Shot | Michal Jagiello
Brilliant tutorial, showing how to create a war movie style scene.

Create a Stormy, Electric Type Reveal | Markus Gustafsson
Beautifully made effect. Could be useful for intro text.

The Dancing Can | John Dickinson
Learn how to create a can which dances following music beats.

Forging Fire | Jorrit Schulte
Create a forging fire in the background of the text.

Light Rays Custom Effect from Scratch | Michal Jagiello
This technique can be useful for your own effects.

Create Whispy Spirit-like Text | Adam Everett Miller
Awesome looking text effect.

Learn to Make a Custom 3D Wall Text Reveal | Roman Komurka
Awesome looking 3D text effect.

Create a MoGraph Urban Jungle | Naim Alwan
Stunning effect using After Effects and Boujou.

Create a 3D DNA Strain | Jerzy Drozda Jr
Cool animation of 3D DNA strain.

Cinematic Opening Title Redux | Lloyd
Very interesting animation using a lot of texts.

Animate Your Logo Into Characters | Chaithanya Y
Cool transformation from characters to logo.

Explosive TV promo graphics | John Dickinson
Learn to create "Fast and furious" style text animations.

Create a Sci-Fi Movie Title Sequence | Michael Park
Very cool tutorial for a movie intro.

The Birth Of A Logo | Stefan Surmabojov
Brilliant looking animation with cool lighting.