projects

Alternative Limb Project creates gorgeously surreal prosthetics

It's hard to imagine life without a limb -- not just the physical difficulties, but how it might affect your relationship with your body, and your sense of how you're perceived by the world around you. One prosthetist is taking into account not just restoring limb function, but also the wearer's personality and style.

The Alternative Limb Project is the work of Sophie de Oliveira Barata, who, taking her honors degree from the London Arts University studying special-effects prosthetics, went to work as a sculptor for a prosthetics company. In her eight years there, she created realistic limbs and digits for amputees who wanted their new limbs to blend into their bodies.

de Oliveira Barata has continued this work with the Alternative Limb Project, and her realistic limbs, molded from casts of the customer's own body, are incredibly detailed. But some people prefer to stand out in a crowd. … Read more

Google battles human trafficking with global hotline

It's estimated that more than 20 million people worldwide are currently victims of human trafficking. Put in perspective, that's nearly the equivalent of the entire population of Australia.

In an effort to combat human trafficking and provide help for victims, Google has launched a new joint project with three advocacy organizations -- Polaris Project, Liberty Asia, and La Strada International. Dubbed the Human Trafficking Hotline Network, this project aims to create a consolidated global hotline connected to a data-driven network.

Here's more on the project from a blog post by Google Ideas director Jared Cohen and Google … Read more

AT&T follows Google with gigabit network plans for Austin

Austin, you've got high-speed options.

Just hours after Google announced that it was bringing its gigabit Google Fiber Internet and TV service to Austinites by mid 2014, AT&T said that it too will build a fast fiber-optic infrastructure for comparable high-speed access in the techie Texas city.

As an expansion to the company's Project VIP, AT&T will deliver Internet speeds of up to 1Gbps through the just-announced Austin infrastructure, the company said. AT&T did not reveal pricing or its rollout plans, which makes the reveal seem like an in-your-face move designed to … Read more

Project Canvas for Mac Review

Those seeking alternatives to popular presentation programs like PowerPoint may have difficulty finding options. Project Canvas for Mac solves this problem, but its dated interface and lack of useful instructions make it hard to operate.

Project Canvas for Mac offers a free 15-day trial version, while unlocking the full program requires a $29.95 payment. The native installer set the program up quickly and required acceptance of a lengthy user agreement. Support for updates was available and several bugs had been fixed in the latest version. The program's interface was very basic and akin to simple drawing software from … Read more

Maple XP Review

If time is money, then tracking your time is just as important as budgeting. Maple XP keeps you on track by managing multiple projects at once. However, getting started with the program takes a long time and its interface isn't too easy to use.

The whole installation process required for this program to work takes time. The program requires the .NET Framework to work, too, so if your computer is not yet running it you need to install it before continuing. Once you finally open Maple XP, you'll notice that the program has changed its name to Quisima … Read more

Google Glass to be made in the USA, but still by Foxconn

Like so many other popular and much-coveted tech gadgets, Google Glass will be made by China's Foxconn -- but not in China.

The Financial Times is reporting that Google's augmented reality specs will be assembled by the Taiwan-based company, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, at a facility in Santa Clara, Calif. Foxconn has contracts with many big names in the tech world to manufacture and/or assemble laptops, smartphones, and other consumer products in facilities around the world, including its massive, city-sized factories in mainland China.… Read more

Overlay your shared photos with good-looking typography

Over for iOS lets you jazz up your Instagram photos with beautifully rendered typography to make them more than just photos with filters.

This is not a complete photo-editing app. Instead, with Over, you're adding great-looking fonts to your images to tell more of the story, make a meme, or simply to add a label. You start by picking an image from your iPhone photo library. A wheel-like interface on the right gets you to the apps main functions where you can choose your fonts, edit what you have on screen, save to your camera roll, or share to … Read more

The 404 1,225: Where the first issue is a gateway drug (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Baauer of "Harlem Shake" sued over unauthorized samples.

- Surprise hit "Harlem Shake" was a shock for artists heard on it.

- "Sweet Brown" sues Apple and radio stations for unauthorized interview.

- SXSW: Marvel to give away 700 first-issue digital comics.

- Marvel giveaway crashes Comixology's servers.… Read more

Four-eyes rejoice! Google Glass for prescription frames coming

Google Glass fans who wear actual glasses will also be able to don the wearable tech, without abandoning their prescription glasses, according to a Team Glass post today.

The company said one of the most asked questions about Glass was whether Google is making a prescription version. Clearly, Google has seen the value of making Glass versions for those beholden to their corrective lenses.

"The Glass design is modular, so you will be able to add frames and lenses that match your prescription. We understand how important this is and we've been working hard on it," Project … Read more

Project Gamma brings intelligent audio to digital comics

AUSTIN, Texas--From the band Love and Rockets lifting its name from the famous cult favorite Hernandez brothers' comic, to a suspiciously-coincidental Jack Kirby and Frank Zappa meeting, comic books and music have a long history of influencing each other.

The fusion of music and comics as directed by the comics' creators has been limited to a list of recommended tunes in the letters pages of the book -- until now. Today, Marvel Comics raised the curtain on a plan to turn that history on its ear with a digital comics-and-music fusion code-named Project Gamma.

Project Gamma is, in the words … Read more