Press Review (2012-10-29)

After over seven years and a little more than five-hundred posts (as well as nearly forty-thousands pageviews), I am still blogging (or doing my best to). I also keep reading the news online as often as I can. In the last couple of weeks, the story that dominated the tech news (and was of a particular interest for me) was Apple announcing many new products (the new iPad mini, of course, but mostly the new iMac -- I'll finally be able to replace my dead desktop, sometime in November, and I just can't wait to pre-order it). In the local news, everyone is still talking mostly about corruption (The Gazette, La Presse) and in the U.S. all minds are on the beginning of the last stretch of the electoral campaign for the presidential election (The Gazette, La Presse). And, of course, everyone is anxiously looking at the incoming super-storm Sandy (The Gazette, La Presse). So, again, I am sharing nearly a hundred more links with you after the jump:

Bref commentaire syndical

D'abord, je rappel à tous que l'équipe du 109 au 409 (L'alternative syndicale pour les fonctionnaires municipaux de Montréal, c'est-à-dire “l'opposition officieuse” de notre très “démocratique” syndicat) tiendra demain une première conférence sur l'histoire syndicale au Québec (histoire sans doute de nous rappeler quelles devraient être les fonctions d'un véritable syndicat qui se respecte). La conférence aura lieu à partir de 19:00 au Centre St-Pierre (près du métro Beaudry, au 1212 rue Panet – salle 105). J'espère que quelqu'un m'en fera un compte rendu parce que je ne pourrai pas y être (je travaille loin et ne pourrais m'y rendre à temps).

[Mise à jour: voir le Compte rendu de la conférence du 17 octobre 2012 sur l'histoire du syndicalisme au Québec sur le site du 109 au 409]

La suite après le saut de page:

Press Review (2012-10-16)

I slowly succeed to catch up on my work around the house and in blogging. The three big news of the last couple of weeks are the rumors (again) of Apple updating its iMac line (possibly announced next week along the smaller iPad, a 13 Inch Retina MacBook Pro an even a possible new Mac Mini -- I hope I'll finally be able to replace my broken iMac), the 4.5-magnitude earthquake that I felt very early last wednesday (it didn't really shake but felt more like one big jolt), and Felix Baumgartner's parachute jump from the edge of space (I watched him live on YouTube as he broke several records and no bones). As usual I've gathered the links to the most interesting news and I am sharing them with you after the jump:

“Unshelved” marathon

I just finished catching up on a few months worth of my favourite web comics: Unshelved. This year they're celebrating their tenth anniversary and there's already eight annual compilations available. Oh, did I mentioned that it is the story of a dysfunctional library and its staff ? I just feel at home. (See previous reviews).

See my latest favourites strips after the jump:

Mangafy your life!

Thanks to Cult of Mac and Gizmodo, I've just discovered one of the cutest iOS apps I've seen in a long time: Manga Camera!

This app by Supersoftware allows you to take a picture (but only with an iPhone 3GS+, iPod Touch 5 or iPad 3) and convert it into a manga style image! You can select thirty-two different background styles (some with Japanese captions, “sound effects” or speed lines) and share your pictures on Twitter or Facebook. If you're not satisfied with the background, you can change it even after having taken the picture.

It doesn't always work well (sometimes shadows or darker subject gets converted into backgrounds effects), but when it does the result is quite impressive. A picture is instantly turned into a realistic manga panel (with all its characteristics: b&w, inked line, textured with zipatone). It's really amazing.

My only complaints is that it doesn't save the pictures automatically (you have to save manually each pics before taking another one, if not it will disappear), you cannot use the front-facing camera to take a picture of yourself (use a mirror instead) and you cannot use an existing picture to apply the manga effects (that would be quite cool).

Nevertheless, it can provides hours of fun! It could be a cool way to make a photo-manga (for those manga lovers with less drawing talent)...

Version 1.0 of Manga Camera was released on September 10th 2012 and weighs 14.7 Mb. Available in english and japanese. Rated 4+

See a few examples after the jump:

Misère subite

Certains pays sont plus sujet que d'autres à la misère subite. Par exemple, en Asie du sud-est, suite à une mousson plus forte qu'à l'habitude certaines régions peuvent se retrouver, du jour au lendemain, bang! dans la dèche!

[ Intraduisible! ]