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The shape-shifting seamstress of your cosplay dreams

Comic-Con is just a month away and Mel Hoppe definitely plans to be there. In fact, July is a busy month for the self-described cosplayer, gamer, and geek. Almost immediately after the big show in San Diego, she'll be heading up to Kintoki-Con, the Asian media and culture convention in Sacramento, Calif., where she'll be hanging out in the "Artist's Alley" under her alias, WindoftheStars.

That's because Hoppe isn't just a dedicated cosplayer, she also makes and sells her own costumes from her home base in northern Nevada. I came across the work of WindoftheStars on Google+ a few months ago and was blown away by the beauty, realism, and range of her creations (fortunately, she doesn't go as far as this real-life anime girl).

I reached out to Hoppe to learn a little more about how she got into her craft. She told me a story I'm sure many readers of Crave can relate to. It all started with a Commodore 128 and a joystick at a young age.… Read more

Santas and Burning Man and bridge climbing, oh my

OAKLAND, Calif. -- If you live in Austin, San Francisco, New York, or any number of other cites, the sight of hundreds of Santa Clauses prowling around, ducking in and out of bars, department stores, or parks as part of the annual SantaCon has probably become second nature.

But imagine seeing dozens of St. Nicks walking toward you on a San Francisco street in 1994 or 1995 , when the Internet was anything but ubiquitous, when culture jamming was a phrase no one had heard before, and Improv Everywhere, the Yes Men, and flash mobs were still a thing of the … Read more

Bad day? Hide from the world in this privacy-pod recliner

When everything is going pear-shaped and you want to escape to Mars, just imagine you had this quirky piece of furniture.

The Massaud Canopy is like a personal refuge in your office or living room. Just jump into the recliner, yank the hood down, and poof! The world is gone.

Recently shown off at NeoCon 2013 in Chicago, the chair seems like a mix between an old-school hooded hair dryer and this disaster escape pod from Japan. … Read more

Dongle jokes and a tweet lead to firings, threats, DDoS attacks

What started as a handful of off-color jokes by two men at a developer conference has led to cyberattacks, death threats, and the firing of two people, including the woman who originally reported the incident.

It all started Sunday at the PyCon event in Santa Clara, Calif., when Adria Richards, a developer evangelist for e-mail vendor SendGrid, overheard some jokes being told by two men seated immediately behind her at the conference, which is for people working on the Python programming language. The two allegedly made jokes about "forking" in a sexual manner and "big dongles." … Read more

The 404 1,152: Where there's no basement in the Alamo (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Katie interviews DC Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee at New York Comic Con.

- Check out Katie's new app Splatrpult, available today for a free download.

- The New Yorker traces emojis back to the beginning.

- Real apples branded with Apple's logo.… Read more

Twilio takes on the world with its cloud-based telephony

Twilio, a startup with a platform for developing cloud-based communications apps, said today it is taking that platform global.

In a keynote address at the company's annual TwilioCon here, CEO Jeff Lawson said that as of this morning, the platform would be available in 40 countries on six continents. To date, it had been available only in North America and Europe.

More than 150,000 developers looking to build cloud-based VOIP, text messaging, and phone functionality into their existing applications have flocked to Twilio's platform. Last year alone, its customer base expanded 400 percent, and among those using … Read more

If Batman drove a Kia, it would look like this

The Batmobile (in all of its various incarnations) is probably as famous as the Batman who pilots it. However, if you should happen to find yourself in New York this week (perhaps for some sort of comic book convention), you'll be able to get a peek at the car that Kia Motors would like to see as the Caped Crusader's next set of wheels: a top-of-the-line Kia Optima SX Limited. Well, they at least got the color right.

Personally, I'd like to think that if Batman were to drive a front-wheel-drive, Korean sports car, he'd be … Read more

At MobileCon 2012, LG surges where others hang back

SAN DIEGO--We knew all along that MobileCon, with its enterprise focus, would be a quieter show for consumers, but what we didn't know was how the players who did show up would engage us.

LG used the event to showcase the midrange LG Optimus L9, which it announced just before the show, and the LG Mach, a dual-core QWERTY device for Sprint, which it announced on Day 1.

Later, at a launch party, LG pleasantly surprised with goody bags containing one Optimus G flagship phone each for AT&T and for Sprint. Bravo, LG, and we'll have … Read more

Huawei desperate to crack the top-tier U.S. brands

SAN DIEGO--A year ago at CTIA (now known as MobileCon), Huawei announced plans to become a top-five vendor in three years' time. A year into its push to crack the U.S. market, Huawei is only baby steps closer to reaching its goal.

When I met with Huawei in San Diego earlier this week, company spokespeople said that consumers' brand awareness grew from 6 percent in 2011 to 9 percent in 2012.

The 3 percent growth isn't much to crow about, not when brand awareness hovers at 49 percent in the South Pacific region, 29 percent in northern Latin … Read more