magic

When the visual effects and animation wizards at Industrial Light & Magic started working on Paramount Pictures film Iron Man, their biggest challenge was creating a suit for the title character that was part CGI and part real costumery.

The story is about genius billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, who's also a bit of a jerk and who designs and sells weapons. In the film's opening sequences, Stark is demonstrating one of his weapons and ends up in a scuffle with terrorists that leaves shrapnel lodged near his heart. To make a long story short, Stark ends up making … Read more

Brian Brushwood stops by to ruin our lunches. He did some crazy crazy tricks like sticking a 4-and-a-half-inch nail in his nose, sticking a smaller nail in his eye, and basically taking over the show and making it awesome. The boys of the 404 might talk about iPod Touches, but who are we kidding? Magic! Listen in, or even better, watch the video later today on this post or on CNET TV's YouTube channel. We promise you WILL NOT want to miss this episode.

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There's no magic in this flawed system cleaning tool except for the way it makes files disappear before your eyes. Ashampoo Magical Optimizer's very basic interface contains quick buttons to the program's options. Users can choose either the Automatic Optimization or the slightly safer Manual Optimization.

There are dozens of programs that clean the Windows Registry, browser cache folders, and system temp folders. Before deleting files, the best will back up the Registry first and allow you to select which files you want to delete. Ashampoo Magical Optimizer offers neither of those options. The Automatic Optimization flies … Read more

Once again, Walter Mossberg has offered incomplete and potentially dangerous computer advice in The Wall Street Journal. The December 6, 2007 edition of Mossberg's Mailbox had a question from someone whose lone hard disk was divided into two partitions; a small C disk that was almost full and a large D disk with lots of available space. The questioner asked about merging the two partitions together. Mr. Mossberg said that Partition Magic can be used for this purpose and that it "works well."

It is malpractice to suggest changing partitions in any way shape or form without … Read more

Those of us who are artistically challenged need all the help we can get when it comes to design software. A new tool called Vector Magic--the result of Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Laboratory research project by James Diebel and Jacob Norda--seems to be a valuable addition to the arsenal of free apps available for creating and editing images online.

Basically, Vector Magic takes rasterized images (composed of pixels) and converts them to vector (or scalable) images. The result is an image that can be easily resized with no blur or pixelation--an ideal format for logos or other images that need to appear both large and small. Vector Magic supports the uploading of JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, and TIFF formats, and can export its final products as EPS, SVG, or PNG files. A warning on the Vector Magic blog today warns users to be patient because of a recent upswing in the load on its servers, but I had no problem at all converting JPEG images of various sizes into vector images in no time at all.… Read more

Like their real-world counterpart, a quickly jotted digital sticky note placed prominently on the desktop can be just the reminder or inspirational message you need. And it won't bulk up the landfill when you trash it.

Software sticky notes are simply movable widgets that contain text, and even the simplest possess some font, color, and formatting customization. Most of the apps I looked at let you add alarms, sounds, and hot key shortcuts. The more advanced programs are surprisingly powerful, adding sophisticated synchronizing features and management platforms to track notes and reduce desktop clutter.

Not all the sticky notes products are free (NoteZilla) , and not all the paid products are good (StickyNote). Here are six popular studs and duds you should take note of.… Read more

Not all games need a computer or a video game system. Long ago, before the Internet and broadband and (one assumes) wheels and indoor plumbing, gamers played games on tables. Card games, role-playing games, and strategy games were all played with pens, paper, cards, dice, and figurines. Plenty of gamer geeks still play those games today. I count myself as one of them.

Wizards of the Coast owns Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, respectively the largest tabletop RPG and collectible card game franchises ever. WotC recently announced the strangely named Gleemax, a social site focused specifically on the … Read more

Aside from keeping you in touch with your colleagues and friends, your Windows Mobile device might also be your portable music player, personal calendar, gaming machine, and, of course, your mobile gateway to the Internet.

No matter how many uses you already have for your portable device, there's always more to discover. Become a master of mobile technology with this collection of downloads designed for Windows Mobile users on the go.… Read more

Embedding music systems in household furniture is hardly a unique concept, as we've seen it done in pieces ranging from headboards to fireplaces. But in most cases, you don't sit on the equipment.

That's why we were initially a bit dubious about the "Substage FlatMagic Active Subwoofer," which is described as "the world's first ultra-compact low-profile audiophile subwoofer solution"--meaning that it's thin enough to slide under a living room chair or sofa. Soundmatters, which will soon sell a new version of the skinny box for $399, says it was designed … Read more