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By Taylor Pepe
Professional photographers are generally employed, professionally trained, and for the most part take compelling photos that are worth 1,000 words or more.
College kids with digital cameras and macs, not so much.
We all know those “photographers,” usually a former roommate, or a kid on your floor from school who was given a digital camera by their aunt for their birthday in high school. They’re the kids who took one good photo of a tree, and suddenly they think they’re Anne Geddes.
You know their photos are bad. They don’t. If only there was a third party that could stop them from taking that picture of a leaf and uploading it to Facebook, clogging up your newsfeed. That may soon be a real possibility. Much to the chagrin of liberal arts majors and sorority girls everywhere, Andrew Kupresanin is developing a camera which offers a real opinion of your photos.
The opinionated camera, Nadia, judges the quality of your work when you snap a photo. Sadly this product is still in the developmental stage, but we can only hope this becomes the norm quickly.
So, say you’re at your mountain retreat in the Alps when you’re suddenly struck by the poetic balance of the sky and the mountains. Or you’re in the park and you see Kate Gosling and the children being pleasant to people for once. Either way, the picture needs to be perfect.
If you pointed the Nadia camera at the scene, it wouldn’t show you the image in the view finder, but rather its supposedly superior opinion of your photo, displayed as a percentage out of 100, to help you get the perfect photo. It’s like having Simon Cowell and Judge Judy in your pocket at all times.
So, if your photo of the mountains and the sky was a little too much sky and not enough mountain, it would give you a 35%, or a 95% if you majestically captured the Gosling family (even Kate) not looking miserable.
Finally, someone can tell your roommate their photos of rocks in the Common are awful, without fear of their stuff being touched.
September 22nd, 2011
By Taylor Pepe
Ever since college, you’ve had the reputation as the “person who always makes an entrance.” Lady Gaga has nothing on you.
There was the time you took a limo to class. The time you parachuted into graduation. The time you had Kanye West rap to you as you walked into work for the first time.
Needless to say, you know how enter a room. However, sometimes when you’re going to dinner with some close friends, you need something a little more subtle.
Thankfully someone out there developed your idea of, “my phone should automatically tell my friends I’m arriving.” Presenting I’m Coming, an app that automatically lets your friends know you’re getting to a destination using GPS, now available via iTunes.
Here’s how it works: once you download the app, mark your destination by selecting a nearby notification point, say the Prudential Tower a few minutes away. Before you leave for your evening, compose an e-mail letting the people you’re meeting know you’ll be arriving (you can take this moment to interject how you just got your helicopter back from Richard Branson). Using the magic of GPS, your phone will detect when you’re by the Pru, or any location, and automatically send off an e-mail to everyone about how you’ll be making your grand entrance.
This should give your friends ample time to prepare a drink for you.
September 15th, 2011
By Taylor Pepe
Consider for a moment the most masculine figure of all the parking enforcement officers. The meter maid.
Slow. Deliberate. Callous.
With turtle-like speed, and minds as remembering as Elephants, they roam the streets of Boston looking to strike with the most unsightly weapon in their arsenals, the neon orange citation. Despite your pleas and back-ended “compliments” about their less than flattering apparel, you’re going to get a ticket, unless you remember to pay the meter.
However, accidents do happen. We’ve all been in this situation: you’re in downtown Boston having drinks and giving pointers to Ray Allen about how to shoot three pointers, while simultaneously making plans to fly to the Alps for some weekend skiing – clearly a little too preoccupied to be bothered with renewing the meter, and then, Bam! Ticket.
Thankfully, you now have another personal assistant to call on to help prevent these kinds of situations in the future. Check out ParkBud, a new app available through iTunes. It’s very simple to use, simply open the app and type in the time you parked your car. As the time gets closer to pump more money into the city, you’ll be sent a reminder that it’s time to pay your fare.
But, we all know the city is a good size, and sometimes in the events of the day you find yourself in an unfamiliar part of town, with no recollection of where you parked. ParkBud’s got your back. Not only does it provide you with a friendly reminder that it’s time to pay, but it also uses GPS to give you the fastest route back to your vehicle, thus allowing for maximum hang-out time with your celebrity friends.
Who knows, maybe you can start inviting that parking patrol officer over for football. He still can’t ride in your Maybach though.
September 8th, 2011
By Taylor Pepe
We all have “those” people who we no longer want to see anymore. There’s the ex, who since you’ve broken up, has dominated your Facebook wall with photos of her and Justin Timberlake canoodling court-side at the Lakers game. There’s the co-worker who continues to Tweet about his new office (have you seen my desk-pure marble with diamonds), and of course there’s Steve Williams who doesn’t want to see anything about his former employer. If only there was a way to never come across these people again, even accidentally, on the vast void that is the internet.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to say adios to them. Presenting, the Ex-Blocker, a browser add-on for Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari that lets you block the person of your choosing, now available online.
Are you losing friends because your nights out have turned into tearful karaoke outings? We’ve all been there (no we haven’t). Are you getting angry every time you’re out and you see a family taking a picture of a child, because you know it will end up on Facebook, and you’re reminded of that one co-worker that always posts photos of their family? Then this is a website designed just for you.
Here’s how it works, first you need to choose what browser your computer uses. Next, enter your sworn enemies name into the boxes. After that, you can add in their facebook, their twitter, and their personal blog, why not, you don’t really care what they bought at the mall. After all of the information is entered, every instance of their existence will be blocked from your browser indefinitely. It’ll be like they never existed, and your memories of them, fading into obscurity faster than Rebecca Black.
Did I mention it’s good for forgetting “celebrities” like her as well?
August 31st, 2011
By Taylor Pepe
This is my first post to the Racetalk blog. Look for more of my posts in the upcoming weeks! I would also like to thank Brittany and Jason for bringing me on.
I have an angelic voice. It’s been described as a hybrid between Barry Manilow and Enrique Iglesias. That being said, I’ve been known to belt out a ballad or two on my way to work in the morning. After all, something has to break up the commute.
More often than not however, a song finds a way to embed itself in my head, and not leave, no matter what I try. My science panel is all on vacation, so the reasoning as to why this happens will have to wait, but I have recently found a way to get the latest Katy Perry song out of my head.
Presenting Unhear it, a website that provides you with a random song to block out that annoying hook from the Lil’ Wayne song you’ve been singing all morning.
Think of this website as a music-demolition expert who’d you call in after you’ve gone from your commute, to the board room, to the snack shack in your office with Real McCoy’s early 90s club favorite “Another Night” playing on repeat in your head. (You’re welcome for reminding you of your glory days)
To avoid spending the rest of your day figuring out some sweet new glow stick dance moves, here’s what you do: go online, open Unhear it, and click play. The website will randomly pick a song for you to listen to, either in its entirety or just a few seconds (the opening to “Getting’ Jiggy with It” generally gets me ready to go). In no time you’ll be back to making those million dollar decisions your company hired you to make.
The website does come with the risk of replacing one overly annoying hook with another. Worth it? You bet. Anything beats Eifel 65.
August 26th, 2011
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