Easily Create SVG Animated Images With Pac-n-Zoom

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Have you noticed the advertisements on various websites lately? Mostly they are still images but some of them are animated and gives you a notion as those are videos which they actually are not. Those are SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) images, deemed as sort of revolution in imaging and animation industry. SVG images have become extremely popular for creating high end 2D or 3D graphic animated images.

Creating animation is like chewing nuts or is it?

If you (like me) are not very friendly with Photoshop or Coral Draw or Gimp, then you might think that it is impossible to create such animated image your self. And even if you are good at Photoshop how comfortable are you with creating animations with it? Creating animated images does sound like a herculean task until you get a handy tool that can let you create /convert SVG photos?

Behold Pac-n-Zoom:

Pac-n-Zoom is an online tool that lets you create/convert ordinary photos in animated SVG graphics, easily. Best part, you don’t need to be an expert do so. Launched by Accelerated I/O, Inc which claims that it has created first photo animation application where users can upload photographs, convert them in SVG and can create animation that will run on most modern browsers (which means Internet Explorer needs special treatment). If you want to know how easy it is to create an animation with Pac-n-Zoom, take a look at the pictures below:

Now you wondering how the animation actually look like? You can see the animation created in example here. For more information on creating SVG animation with Pac-n-Zoom, try their .

Features of Pac-n-Zoom

  • Accepts upload of JPEG and PNG file formats
  • Background image can be left as JPEG or PNG and SVG animations run in front of it
  • Animations can be viewed in all major browsers, although IE will need Adobe’s SVG Viewer plug-in
  • File format is SVG which is an open standard developed and recommended by the W3C
  • Animations can be zoomed in or out
  • Animations can be timed
  • Animations can moved up to 100 places in the photo
  • The SVG standards allow many other animation options which Accelerated I/O intends to incorporate into their app
To use the tool create an account on Pac-n-Zoom. You can refer to the user manual for a quick starting guide. Support is also available.

Verdict:

Pac-n-Zoom is still in beta, so you might find some glitches at the moment for e.g., animation can only be created on Mozilla Firefox presently. Pac-n-Zoom charges a penny per 10000 pixels which means that an average SVG animation conversion may cost you somewhere between 5-10 cents. I would suggest Pac-n-Zoom to opt for the freemium model in which premium users enjoy more functionality than the free users. If you are a professional and regularly deals with animation you must consider trying Pac-n-Zoom.

Logitech’s new washable keyboard K310 released

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Logitech_keyboard_Washable_WaterproofDo you like to enjoy a large cup of triple mocha latte while working on your desktop but you fear the chance of spilling it on your keyboard? Here is a good news for you, fear no more. Logitech has come up with a new washable keyboard which is designed just for people like you so that you can enjoy your snacks, coffee and your time on desktop all at the same time. You no more have to struggle with the greasy and dirty keyboard.

Waterproof and dust resistant:

Wash it whenever you like under the tap of running water in your kitchen sink just like any other utensil! You are free to scrub it with mild soap and submerge the keyboard in up to  28 cm of water. However, it is not a good idea to put this keyboard in the dishwasher as the USB cable is not waterproofed. The company also recommends not use water that is over 50°C (120°F).  It is also dust resistant which can be cleaned just by sweeping off the particles and is designed to look new even after regular use.

Stylish and durable:

It also has holes at the back for quick and easy draining and drying the keyboard. Stylish, elegant and functional Logitech keyboard k310 comes with white keys on black board. The characters on the keys are laser printed and UV coated for long life and greater visibility of the keys even after repeated washings. It is highly durable and each key can take 5 million key strokes according to the company.

The keyboard has numeric pad and F-keys, and 12 hotkeys  for volume and media playback, for ease of  internet usage along with email, and accessing other applications. This amazing  Washable Keyboard K310 comes with three-year warranty. It is compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. It also has the plug and play functionality hence there is no need for any software to be downloaded.

Coming soon at a store near you:

This liquid proof keyboard is all set to hit the sinks in USA by end of this month and Europe will get the chance to experience it in the month of October. It is priced at $40 and can be shipped to pre-order through Logitech.com.

So if you are one of those who have kids messing with your keyboard or if you are the one who love to eat on desk then this  keyboard would be the perfect solution to keep away those crumbs and pile of dust from making their home under the keys.

Entries Open For Ubuntu 12.10 Wallpapers

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World’s most popular Linux distribution Ubuntu will be launching its latest version 12.10 code-named Quantal Quetzal in couple of months. As a tradition, Canonical always invites entries from users to select its collection of default wallpapers. Unlike previous years, the entry is limited to one entry per user this year.

The guidelines for this year are:

  1. Images shouldn’t be busy and filled with too many shapes and colours, a similar tone throughout is a good rule of thumb
  2. They should have a single point of focus, a single area that draws the eye in
  3. We should avoid having anything on the left and top edges as this will clash with the interface elements of the Launcher and Panel
  4. Try your image at different aspect ratios to make sure something important isn’t cropped out on smaller/ larger screens

If you are a passionate photographer or digital artist, participate in the Ubuntu wallpaper contest. The deadline for application is 28 August 2012.

Google integrates Google Plus into Blogger dashboard

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The king of internet ‘Google’ does it again. I am talking about the google’s concept of integrating google+ with every other google product online. This time around it is integration of google+ into blogger dashboard.

The ritual of integrating google+ such as:

  • using google+ in Gmail where you can set google+ profile as default profile for your Gmail account
  • you can direct your blog visitors (if you use blogger platform) to google+ profile which was blogger profile earlier
  • and give a +1 on Adsense,

continues with the latest integration of google+ in to the blogger dashboard, the google’s blog platform.

Since October 2011 blogger has enabled the feature of using google+ profile over blogger profile to allow the blogger publishers to grow their audience for their blogs and intern help them to grow their google+ followers. Now this addition of g+ button in the blogger dashboard means it will be easier to share your blog updates. You no more need to copy the url to update status about your new post in google+.

What does it mean to you as a blogger?

Every time you publish a post on your blog you will get a prompt to share on google+. This will help blog publishers to notify to circles on their google plus profile about their new post on the blog. This will also allow circles to +1 and/or reshare the g+ profile updates to their own circles thus exposing the links to larger audience. Google in their official blog called this as a ripple effect. It has also been said in blogger buzz that more features will be added to google+ button on blogger.

This is the newest addition to the list of attempts from google to bring google+ and blogger together after

  • providing two google+ gadgets earlier- +1 button and google+ badge to add to blogs on blogger
  • and, giving you an option to find out which of your posts is popular and growing in demand. This is made possible by providing +1 counter on your dashboard in front of each post.

This means that you will be able to connect your brands, business, or other organization’s blog to your Google+ profile, which will bring all the identities together leading you to establish relationship with your blog and google+ followers quickly.

Start exploring this feature and stay tuned for more from gooooogle!

Could there be problems?

It is not clear though on ‘how to bring together or interconnect two or more google accounts (which I am sure most of you have) associated with different Gmail Ids to a single google+ profile?’

Consider this, suppose I want to connect a single google+ profile to my blogger account and a different Gmail account (not associated with the one used for blogger) which I use extensively to mail my clients then it becomes impossible since google associates different google+ profiles to every single Gmail account!

I am sure it would be a flop idea to create different circles for every account which would bring down the basic idea of integration of google+!

What would be your suggestion in this scenario?

Curiosity Has Landed – Now What?

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NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity landed on the surface of the red planet at 1:32 a.m. EST on August 6, 2012. While this isn’t the first vehicle we’ve landed on Mars, it is the largest and it packs over ten times as much scientific equipment. More than that, though, this represents the beginning of a new phase of Mars surface exploration.

Simply stated, we’ve never tried to land something this big so precisely on another planet before. The rover weighs over one ton, had to withstand temperatures up to 3,800 degrees during its descent, and land within a certain area. Curiosity needed to prove that it could be landed in a specific 12.4-mile landing zone and have enough long-range mobility to collect more diverse samples for study.

The Landing Process

The landing can be one of the most complicated portions of the mission, and any one of a million things could go wrong and 2.5-billion-dollars-worth of technology would be scattered across another planet.

The MSL entered the atmosphere at a brisk 12,000 mph, deployed its parachute, separated from its heat shields, and engaged the rocket-powered sky crane which landed the rover ready on the surface. In order to manage all that, NASA had to push two of its High Performance Computing (HPC) clusters running PowerEdge servers from Dell enough to analyze the vast amounts of data necessary to complete the process safely. And now that it’s there, it’s time to get to work.

Dell High Performance Server

Objectives and Goals

There are four basic goals for the Curiosity’s mission to mars. The mission will try to determine whether life ever arose on Mars, and then to characterize the climate and build a better understanding of the planet’s geology. Finally, this may be used as an example of possible human exploration by proving that it is possible to land extremely heavy payloads safely.

In order to reach these goals, NASA has split Curiosity’s mission up into a . The biological objectives, for example, are to discover and determine the nature of any organic carbon compounds, take an inventory of the chemicals necessary for the building blocks of life, and find any features that may be related to the effects of biological processes as we understand them.

On the geological and geochemical side, the objectives are to examine the mineral, isotopic, and chemical compositions on the surface, and then try to determine what process might have formed the soil and rocks in that particular way.

Finally, the Curiosity will try to access long-timescale atmospheric evolutions processes and figure out the present state, distribution, and cycling of water and carbon dioxide, and characterize all the radiation on the surface (cosmic, solar, etc) that could affect any future landings on the planet.

If the rest of the mission goes as well as the landing, we could start receiving a lot of new information very quickly. The things we learn could very easily change our understanding of Mars and open up new possibilities for exploration.

Author Bio: David Borg works with Dell and loves writing about anything tech related. When he is not working he enjoys spending time with his family. If you want more information about Dell computers click here.

Image Credits:

Image of jars and people behind desk: Credit “NASA HQ on Flickr”
Image of server: Dell.com

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Curiosity, , High Power Computing,

Angry Birds Game Maker Rovio to release Angry Pigs?

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Every dog has its day but it seems even pigs have their day. If rumours to be believed, Rovio’s famed game franchise Angry Birds has its newest version in pipeline and guess what? In contrast to the earlier theme of the game where you had to target the pigs, you will end up saving them in the new series which is supposed to be called as “Angry Birds Pigs Edition”.

There are several Angry Birds rip offs available here and there that could be termed as Angry Pigs but this one comes officially from Rovio. Mind it that it is not a new game series as in “Angry Pigs” but it is an edition of existing Angry Birds where you have to help the pigs survive the attacks of the birds trying to reclaim their eggs.

The game is expected to arrive by the year end. Will you like to switch the sides in this epic war between birds and pigs? Do let us know.

Mozilla’s Next Big Thing: Firefox OS for Smart Phones

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Popular open source web browser giant has joined the bandwagon of Smart Phone Operating Systems with its Firefox OS to compete with iOS, Android, Windows and Symbian. Mozilla today announced that mobile phones running Firefox OS will be available by early 2013. A number of European Telecom operators such as Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica and Telenor has backed this Friefox Mobile OS project.

Firefox OS will be Open Source:

Being true to its Open Source philosophy, Mozilla said:

…..(Firefox) will power the launch of smartphones built entirely to open Web standards, where all of the device’s capabilities can be developed as HTML5 applications.

HTML 5 at its fullest:

Firefox OS intends to use the maximum out of HTML 5 with ‘new phone architecture where every phone feature (calling, messaging, games, etc.) is an HTML5 application.’ The work started last year under the project “Boot to Gecko” that allows ‘HTML5 applications to access the underlying capabilities of a phone, previously only available to native applications.’

Firefox, Do you have in It you?

Last few years have shown a number of smart phone OS failures such as Bada, Meego, Palm etc that simply could not make a decent cut in to the mobile OS which is heavily dominated by iOS and Android. It would be interesting to see if Firefox OS could make a cut into the pie. For this we have to wait till 2013 when it will be released in Brazil which is  an emerging mobile market with lots of prospect to grow as it is less penetrated by Android and iOS.

What do you think of Firefox OS? Is it good move by Firefox to jump into a risky smart phone OS which has seen fall of giants? And once available will you opt for Firefox OS over your existing iOS, Android or Windows?

Change Your Wallpaper To Secure WiFi Network

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Are you concerned about the safety of your wifi network? You think someone outside of your house may gain access to your wifi network and thus may hack in to your computer? Your fear is not invalid considering the increasing news of wireless network hacking. So what can you do to secure wifi network? A layman’s answer would be to keep the wifi signals in your home only to avoid the leakage of signal into the neighbourhood. And the layman is quite right in his thinking.

French researchers have developed this revolutionary wallpaper (for actual walls, not the digital one for your desktop) that prevents wi-fi signals from going outside the room/home and thus keeps the signals in the confines of the room and prevents from any outside intrusion. More details can be found on the French website L’Informaticien.

Special Wallpapers to keep home wifi secure

Innovative thinking. Makes me wonder if it prevents me from opening my windows and doors 😛 Do you think it will help in a secure wifi network?