Man Builds Batmobile, Becomes Batman & Visits Sick Kids

Man Builds Batmobile, Becomes Batman & Visits Sick Kids

 There are some neat people in the world who do some legitimately awesome things with their time and money. Consider 29-year-old Zac Mihajlovic from Australia. He spent two years of his life building a replica version of the Batmobile used in Tim Burton’s classic Batman films, and it looks pretty spot-on. The thing even has a functional afterburner on the back of it, and if that doesn’t scream awesome I don’t know what does. If Zac had only built his own Batmobile as a personal hobby, it would still be noteworthy, but he did it for another reason completely; he wanted to use it to visit sick children and to partner with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. And he doesn’t just drive around in the Batmobile (which is completely street legal, by the way); he also dresses the part with his own Batsuit. What kid out there, sick or not, wouldn’t want the chance to meet a real-life Batman? But the fact he spends his time as the Dark Knight visiting the sick and brightening their days makes him a hero in my book.

Man Builds Batmobile, Becomes Batman & Visits Sick Kids

Man Builds Batmobile, Becomes Batman & Visits Sick Kids

On top of seeing Batman and getting a glimpse of the Batmobile, the children can even ride in Batman’s preferred mode of transportation. Take a look at Mihajlovic in action in the clip below, courtesy of Bancroft Cars:

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Elon Musk Wants in on Internet Satellite Race

Elon Musk Wants in on Internet Satellite Race

Not content with electric cars and cheap rockets, the billionaire entrepreneur, Elon Musk is now focused on satellites. He is looking at ways to make smaller and less-expensive models, which can deliver Internet access globally. Musk is working with Greg Wyler who is and former Google Inc. executive and a satellite-industry veteran; Wyler founded WorldVu Satellites Ltd.
Musk and Wyler have apparently spoken with industry executives regarding launching approximately 700 satellites that weigh less than 250 pounds each. To put that into perspective, that is about half the size of the smallest communications satellite that is now in commercial use.

 Elon Musk Wants in on Internet Satellite Race

The largest current fleet is managed by Iridium Communications Inc. but if Musk has his way then his array would be 10 times that amount. Industry officials have estimated that it may cost $1 billion plus, to develop the project. In addition to Mr. Musk, WorldVu is seeking a satellite industry partner to give some expertise to the project, sources have said. It is to be made known, however, that sources have cautioned the venture is in its formative stages, and that Musk’s participation is not yet certain.
Musk’s SpaceX company would likely launch the satellites, although at this speculative stage no agreement is in place whatsoever. It would make sense that SpaceX would be the firm behind the launches as they have launched a dozen of their own Falcon 9 rockets over the past five years and there are plans fora few dozen launches through to 2018.

Elon Musk Wants in on Internet Satellite Race

If Musk and Wyler decide to construct the satellites, they would face some competition from other makers of small satellites, like Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in Britain. But Musk and Wyler do share an interest in reducing the cost of satellites. WorldVu needs lots of satellites, and they could be the key customer for a low-cost/high-volume, satellite maker.
The smallest communications satellites currently weigh  approximately 500 pounds and cost several million dollars each. WorldVu hopes to bring the cost of producing smaller satellites under $1 million.
[image via careersprout]
SOURCE: http://online.wsj.com/articles/elon-musks-next-mission-internet-satellites-1415390062

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Family Turns His Sick Baby To Iron Man On Halloween

Family Turns His Sick Baby To Iron Man On Halloween

I love heartwarming stories, especially around this time of the year. Don’t you? New dad Eric Hart has a job many of us would probably envy; he’s a professional prop maker. Ever since July, though, he’s been spending his time in the hospital with his son who was born prematurely. And for his son’s first Halloween, he wanted to do something extra special for him, even if he’d only be able to Trick or Treat in the neonatal ICU. Since he makes awesome props for a living, he decided to turn his tiny son into the world’s smallest version of Iron Man, and the pictures are inspiring to say the least. Eric had this to say regarding his decision: “Our son has spent his entire life in the hospital…For his first Halloween, he needed a costume that would help him feel brave. Why not Iron Man?” Why not, indeed.

Family Turns His Sick Baby To Iron Man On Halloween

He made the helmet completely out of foam and hot glue, and the rest of the outfit is comprised of a onesie along with some fabric. The end result is pretty great if I say so myself! I don’t think Eric or his family will be forgetting their son’s first Halloween costume anytime soon.
What do you think?
[Image via 6ABC]

Family Turns His Sick Baby To Iron Man On Halloween

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Samsung Interested in Adding Dual-Edge Display to Galaxy S6

Samsung Interested in Adding Dual-Edge Display to Galaxy S6

Samsung is looking to revamp the Galaxy S series, after the commercial failure of the Galaxy S5 earlier this year, leading to an excessive amount of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales in October and November. The Galaxy S6 will need to offer some impressive specs and a whole new design, in order to win back the hearts of Android fans, uninspired by the Galaxy S6. Reports say Samsung is looking to integrate a new dual-edge display onto the Galaxy S6, to surprise customers.
The aesthetic of the Galaxy S series has not changed since the Galaxy S3, only receiving small iterations. The Galaxy S6 with dual-edge display would be a big change, offering new settings and buttons on the edges of the screen, for users and developers to utilize. Named Project Zero internally, Samsung is prepared to go all-in on the 2015 edition of the Galaxy S. The display will reportedly be 2560 x 1440, similar to other models this year, with Samsung’s classic Super AMOLED panel for sharper blacks.

 

Samsung Interested in Adding Dual-Edge Display to Galaxy S6

Samsung will look to integrate the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor into the Galaxy S6. The official specs for the Snapdragon 810 have not been announced yet, but it will run alongside the Adreno 420 GPU and 3GB of RAM. The Galaxy S6 will be fitted with an enormous battery according to several sources, claiming Samsung wants to hit at least two days solid battery life. The new device will also harbor 128GB of internal storage, alongside a microSD slot for another 128GB and cloud storage options from Dropbox.
Samsung will look to upgrade the camera once again the Galaxy S6 and might make the device waterproof, although this rumor has conflicted opinions, some stating it will be water resistant and others claiming Samsung will not add this feature to the smartphone.
Hopefully, with this revamp to the entire smartphone, Samsung will also look to tone-down the software skin for the Galaxy S6. If Samsung follow the same path as Motorola or even HTC and Sony, it could make the Galaxy S6 a smoother and more enjoyable experience.

Samsung Interested in Adding Dual-Edge Display to Galaxy S6

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How to Navigate & Zoom Images in Photoshop

How to Navigate & Zoom Images in Photoshop

With the mega pixel count on cameras getting higher and higher, and the display resolutions on monitors and televisions increasing to suit, the image sizes we now work with are significantly higher than they ever used to be. This can bring with it a few navigation issues when you are trying to fine tune an image, zoom in and out and move between specific points quickly. Here’s a few shortcuts and tips to help out.
You probably already know that in Photoshop you can use Ctrl and plus to zoom in and Ctrl and minus to zoom out, but this zooms in on the centre of an image and doesn’t help you position the cursor and zoom close in to specific details.

How to Navigate & Zoom Images in Photoshop

You can employ the mouse to zoom in and out by making use of the Ctrl/Space keyboard shortcut. Just move the mouse cursor to where you want to zoom in and then hold down the Ctrl key and the Space bar at the same time, and while holding them down drag the mouse to select the area of the image you want to zoom in. Now let go of the Ctrl and Space keys and the selected area will be instantly brought up for you. No more messing around with the menus to zoom in and out of images.
The hand tool is also useful for quick selections of view. Notice that when you select the hand tool from the left hand toolbar, at the top of the screen Photoshop will now show you three quick shortcut buttons for the Actual Pixels, Fit to Screen and Print Size options. Very handy. Holding the space bar at any time will temporarily bring up the hand tool, which is often very useful for left clicking on the mouse and dragging your view window around a zoomed image.
As well as zooming in, it is sometimes useful to isolate one layer from the others, just to view it on its own for a moment. Don’t spend time hiding all the other layers one by one, you can do it in a single click by holding down the Alt key and clicking the small eye icon at the left of the layer you want to view on its own, this will hide all the layers except for the one you clicked on. Even better, you can then unhide all the other layers by holding down Alt and clicking on the same eye icon again next to the layer you just isolated.
It may seem unfamiliar at first using keyboard shortcuts like this in Photoshop, but get used to them and use them habitually and it will save you a lot of valuable time when navigating and viewing images.
[Image via Russ Payne]

How to Navigate & Zoom Images in Photoshop

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