Monthly notable news (W53-03)

The Holidays and the couple of weeks that followed were rather quiet. Thankfully, I had to deal with much less craziness at work. But that was only the eye of the storm and those depressing days (scientifically certified as such since Blue Monday fell on January 16th this year) are coming to an end. The days are getting longer and more shit will soon hit the fan. Of course, there's also this endless American nightmare with everything Trump. I wish I could forget about all that and never hear about it again, but unfortunately that's what the world has become now.

I am already getting behind in my writings, but I caught up a little with my TV and movie watching. Besides the restarting new seasons (mostly Call The Midwife, Colony, Endeavour, Father Brown, Homeland), the notable new additions are Victoria and Dark Angel (although those two have already ended) as well as the weird Young Pope (a young and reckless leader is unexpectedly elected to head the Church — a little reminescent of the whole “orange is the new black” American electoral fiasco — but it's directed by Paolo Sorrentino, who gave us La grande bellezza) and the quite interesting Mercy Street, a medical period drama set at the Mansion House Hospital during the American Civil War.

I'll try to reinvent myself this year (so much to do) and push forward even harder on the path to improve my temperament and expend my knowledge. That's the only purpose one can have.

Despite everything, I tried to stay acquainted (a bit) with the affairs of the world. Here's a “few” notable news & links that I came across this month and that I'd like to share with you, after the jump (in no particular order, in both french and english):

Weekly notable news (W43-44)

The first week was totally uneventful; another quiet but tiring week (with the usual craziness at work). However, the second week was very busy with all sort of outings and events! First we had a family brunch to celebrate my mother's 87th birthday. Then I finally received the (substantial) back-pay for the retroactive raise since the signature of our collective bargaining (the two good things that work brings: the pleasure of books and money! — but there's only 550 weeks to endure).

Wednesday, I finish work early and the museum is opened late, therefore I took this opportunity for a last-minute visit (last week!) at the Museum of Fine-Arts exhibit on Toulouse-Lautrec. Thursday, not only Apple released new hardware, but it was also the beginning of the 33rd Japanese Film Festival of Montreal at the Cinémathèque Québécoise. There was a sake tasting, a few speeches and then they screened A Tale of Samurai Cooking. I went to see a second movie on Saturday: Sue, Mai and Sawa. That was wonderful. I felt alive. It's good to get busy since we don't have that many good years left.

I also tried to read a little. I have so many books piling on my bedside table (haïku compilation, numerous mangas, Solaris #200, etc). However, I find it so hard to read lately. I am so busy that whenever I can read, I feel guilty and this sentiment is a distraction that make it difficult to concentrate on my reading. Quite annoying. And there's plenty of other distractions… like watching TV! Beside the U.S. presidential election madness and the returning shows (7th season of Walking Dead, 2nd season of Poldark, 10th season of Murdock Mysteries, 14th season of NCIS, 2nd season of Blindspot, 3rd season of Z Nation, 8th season of Vampire Diaries, 4th season of A Place to call home), there's very interesting newcomers like Westworld and Tutankhamun, or others like Class (a Doctor Who spin-off)! I've also watched on Dvd the Michael Moore documentary Where to invade next.

Maybe all that activity was too much, because I caught some bug (cold, stomach flu?) that left me tired, congestionned and with an upset stomach. But there's no rest for the wicked and now I must work on my monthly accounting and pay the bills.

However, before I do that, I'd like to share with you a few notable news & links that I came across lately. Because, even with all this activity, I will always find some time to stay acquainted (a bit) with the affairs of the world. Here they are, after the jump, in no particular order, in both french and english):

Weekly notable news (W39)

Another busy week spent brooding about the craziness at work (still 555 weeks before retirement), going to the hospital for another CT enterography for my wife and backing-up my computers to install macOS 10.12 Sierra on both my iMac and Mac Mini. Didn't have much else on my mind.

To relax we finished watching Dancing on the edge (Brit period drama about a black jazz band, part mystery and part social commentary on racism), the first episode of Maigret (Brit adaptation of Georges Simenon's police drama set in the '50s Paris with Rowan Atkinson in the title role!!! It's quite good once you've passed seeing Mr. Bean face. Now I understand why he never speaks in his sketches: he has a really serious, deep voice!) as well as the first two episodes of the second season of Poldark (yes, another Brit period drama).

And, of course, I still found a little time to stay acquainted with the affairs of the world. I therefore share with you a few notable news & links that I came across this week (in no particular order):

Weekly notable news (W37-38)

The first two weeks of September proved to be rather challenging. First, I was trying to see as many of the Japanese movies shown at the Montreal World Films Festival as I could despite the troubles that the festival was experiencing and the fact that the schedule was constantly changing. Then, my wife woke up in the middle of the night with excruciating abdominal pain and we ended up at the hospital's emergency ward. They kept her for five days and performed several tests without being sure of the nature or cause of the problems. They found some sort of enteritis to the small intestine and a gastritis. She feels well now, but it is a worrying situation since we're still waiting for the result of the biopsy and more tests are scheduled. She survived cancer once ten years ago, so we are waiting the results with apprehension.

It was tiring for me during that time because I had to shuttle back and forth between work (a.k.a the madhouse), the hospital and (once) the film festival. But the beginning of September also brought a few good news: Apple announced some new products as well as released updates, and I got a well over-due pay raise! Unfortunately, there's still five-hundred-and-fifty-seven weeks left before I can retire from work and dedicate my entire time to my personal projects (like writing).

Despite all this, I found time to watch a few dvds at home with my wife. First, we watch Belle et Sébastien 2: L'Aventure continue. It's a cute adventure dog movie, full of improbabilities but it also reminded me of the TV series I was watching when I was a kid. Then I watched Gods of Egypt (by myself because my wife doesn't like sci-fi stuff), which tells — super-heroes style — the founding myth of Egypt where Horus must fight his uncle Set who killed his father Osiris in order to reign over Earth. Horus is helped by the thief Bek, who just want to save his lover Zaya. If you would removed the specials effects from this movie, it would have nothing left of interest…

Finally, I watch Hail, Caesar. It's a star-laden film by the Coen brothers which poke fun of the Hollywood film industry in the 1950s while managing to recreate several of its archetypes: the peblum movies, the synchronized swimming and tap dancing movies, stunt-filled westerns, etc. The film follow studio manager Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) trying to hold production together while unmarried actress DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) becomes pregnant and big star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is abducted by a conspiration of communists! Hilarious, beautifully written and an interesting window on the era.

As always I did my best to keep myself acquainted with the affairs of the world. So, let me share with you a few notable news & links that I came across in the last few weeks (in no particular order):

Weekly notable news (W36)

I always do my best to keep myself acquainted with the affairs of the world. So, let me share with you a few notable news & links that I came across this week (in no particular order):

• Not a Drill: SETI Is Investigating a Possible ET Signal From Space (Observer, The Telegaph)
• Philips adds Motion Sensor, upgraded smartbulbs to HomeKit-enabled Hue line (Apple Insider)
• 3D-print your own bones from everyone’s favorite fossil, Lucy (TechCrunch)
• Baidu's speech recognition software can transcribe faster than you can type (Mashable)
• Early human ancestor Lucy 'died falling out of a tree' (BBC)
• iPhone killed the point-and-shoot, now the iPhone 7 is coming after DSLRs (9 to 5 Mac)
• Google wants your help to improve its automatic translations (Engadget)
• What That 'Strong Signal' From a Nearby Sunlike Star Really Means (Gizmodo)
• We Finally Know What Caused Those Mysterious Craters on Phobos (Gizmodo)
• The mysterious ancient origins of the book (BBC)
• Borrowed time: US library to enforce jail sentences for overdue books (The Guardian)
• Jupiter Is 'Hardly Recognizable' In Juno's Latest Images (Gizmodo)
• The First Reviews of Arrival Are In and They're Out of This World [Rimshot] (io9)
• Here's the First Video Showing SpaceX's Rocket Exploding (Gizmodo)
• DJI drops the built-in optics in favor of your smartphone on its new Osmo Mobile (9 to 5 Mac)
• Hexagon spy satellite was 'better than Google Earth' (CNN)
• HDMI to USB-C without adapters now possible as more Macs expected to adopt port (9 to 5 Mac)

Revue de Presse du FFM

• Palmarès du 47e festival du Film Étudiant (link)
• Palmarès du Festival des films du monde de Montréal 2016 (link)
• Le producteur de cinéma Donald Ranvaud est décédé (Le Devoir)
• British film producer Donald Ranvaud dies in Montreal hotel room (Montreal Gazette)
• Willem Dafoe: l'acteur qui n'a pas peur de souffrir (La Presse)
• En deuil, le FFM remet son premier prix à un cineaste croate (La Presse)
• Donald Ranvaud Dead: 'City of God' Producer Was 62 (Hollywood Reporter)
• FFM: contre vents et marées (ICI.Radio-Canada)

[ Traduire ]

Weekly notable news (week 33)

Here are twenty-five notable news & links that I found interesting, amazing or plain weird (in no particular order & some in French) / Voici vingt-cinq nouvelles et liens notables que j'ai trouvé intéressant, étonnant ou tout simplement bizarre (sans ordre particulier et la plupart en anglais):

• Une série télé dirigée par Woody Allen cet automne (La Presse)
• Apple Pay comes to Canadian vending machines through PayRange app (Apple Insider)
• The life of Japan’s ‘god of manga’ (The Japan Times)
• Food Manga: Where Culture, Conflict And Cooking All Collide (NPR)
• Ulysses 2.6 for iPad (iPad Insight)
• George R.R. Martin's 'Wild Cards' Optioned for Cable (ICv2)
• A new four-part animated adaptation of Richard Adams’ Watership Down to come in 2017 (Slate)
• Athena, the Book Explorer shares her adventures (The Gazette, link)
• Elon Musk is working on a roof made of solar panels (Engadget, CNN)
• How to Tell if Someone Is Stealing Your Wi-Fi (Digital Trends)
• Rio 2016: The Olympics on BBC Sport (link)
• Cavemen were much smarter than we thought (CNN)
• En ce 11 août, le Japon fête son 16e jour férié de l’année (Le Monde)
• Japan boy band SMAP to break up (BBC, ANN)
• Grèce: 80 squelettes exhumés d’un cimetière antique (Le Monde)
• Naoki Urasawa, le stakhanoviste du manga (Le Monde)
• Comment expliquer le retour des tensions en Crimée entre la Russie et l’Ukraine ? (Le Monde)
• Monkey selfie: Animal charity Peta challenges ruling ! (BBC)
• Mystery object in weird orbit beyond Neptune cannot be explained (New Scientist)
• 10 things we didn't know last week (BBC)
• Nice court upholds burkinis ban, but appeal planned (BBC)
• Egypt’s Oldest Papyri Detail Great Pyramid Construction (History)
• Who was Leonidas of Rhodes? (BBC)
• Star Wars: Rogue One New trailer released (BBC)
• TV thriller Homeland gets three more seasons (BBC)

[ Traduire ]

Weekly notable news (week 32)

First, on a personal note: the last few months have been quite trying for me (the summer has zipped past in no time). On top of having to adapt to a new job at an even crazier library, I undertook some (expensive) renovations at home and managing the various team of workers was quite a challenge. And not only I sprained my ankle (with a small fracture) so I had to wear a pneumatic cast for over a month (still do) but I also had to suffer another painful medical problem (won a free game in our pinball's medical system). And I broke my glasses this morning. It seems that I am in for another anus horribilis. All this left me exhausted physically, mentally and morally. I lost all patience I had left to deal with (stupid) people and the world (tired of Trump and all this violence). To quote Indiana Jones, I am really getting too old for this shit. Therefore, I didn't write much lately. Sorry.

However, all is not lost. The weather has been beautiful in the last few days and I am starting to feel better (hopefully it will keep improving; think positive: life is good). In the last week or so, I've been trying to remedy to this unfortunate neglect in my blogger's duty. And, since the film festivals season is at our doors, I am starting to put online my movie comments from last year's MWFF, in order to build up the interest and anticipation (whether the festival happens or not). I hope it's working.

As always, I also keep myself acquainted with the affairs of the world. So, here are a few notable news & links that I came across this week (in no particular order):

• Live-Action Yowamushi Pedal Show Posts On-Set Photos (ANN)
• Mystères entourant la 40e édition du FFM (Le Devoir, Huffington Post)
• Pas trop grosse, SVP! Controverse autour de l'adaptation de «Tamara» (Le Devoir)
• Top 10 Manga Franchises for Spring 2016 (ICv2)
• Apple Pay may come to Tangerine customers (Mobile Syrup, Financial Post)
• Fantasia 2016: TRAIN TO BUSAN Wins Audience And Jury Awards, Plus Many More Winners (Screen Anarchy, link)
• Le retour du vieillard fou de cinéma Films japonais à Fantasia 2016 (Shomingeki)
• Is the internet making us smarter than ever? (The New Indian Express / The Gazette)
• Ontario e-bike rider wins court battle (National Post / The Gazette)
• Here’s How Flowers Move—and Why (Time)
• NASA has released 1,035 new photos of Mars (Business Insider)
• Torrentz.eu quietly shuts down its torrent search engine (Engadget, CNET, IB Times)
• The London: Shipwreck collection to 'rival best in country' (BBC)
• Facebook to suppress clickbait stories (BBC)
• Disappointment for LHC physicists (BBC)
• Irish Libraries to avoid cuts to opening hours with extra £225k funding (BBC)
• Being overweight 'ages people's brains' (BBC)
• Former Ghibli Producer Details the Large Amount of Work That Goes Into Creating a Movie (io9)
• The So-Called Alien Megastructure Just Got Even More Mysterious (Gizmodo)
• Rocks tell story of China's great flood (BBC)

And some Funnies…

Nouveau Zoom

J'ai acquis un nouvel objectif pour la Nikon D3300. Une zoom/macro AF70-300mm auto-focus motorisé de TAMRON (pas mal moins cher qu'un objectif Nikon!). C'est mieux que la zoom Olympus que je devais utilisé totalement en manuel. Au moins, avec celui-ci, je peux relaxer et photographier en automatique si je le désir. La qualité est vraiment bien…

Nikon D3300, Objectif TAMRON AF70-300mm

Un nouvel objectif auto-focus pour la Nikon (déployé et fermé)
Nouvel objectif = nouveaux tests de caméra… Après le saut de page >>

Promenade du dimanche

En cette belle journée ensoleillé mais fraîche (2'C), j'ai pris une courte marche (4 km) dans le parc et cela m'a semblé une excellente occasion pour aussi faire quelques tests de caméra supplé-mentaires en extérieurs. Un beau ciel bleu avec quelques bandes de nuages…


Le coin nord-ouest du CESM: falaise et nouveau stade de soccer (iPhone 6s)


Coin NW du CESM: Inukshuk et TAZ (g), forage et Stade Olympique (d) (iPhone 6s)
Continuez après le saut de page >>

Images du chat-medi

Caramel qui dort… & tests de caméra


(Nikon D3300, 2016-04-09)
Gauche: Cette photo de Caramel a été prise avec la lentille Nikon de base (voir ci-bas), à 3 pi de distance. DF=45mm, ISO 2500, f/5, 1/60.

Droite: Celle-ci avec la zoom Olympus (voir ci-bas), à 6 pi de distance. DF=200mm, ISO 3200, f/4, 1/30.


(iPhone 6s, 2016-04-10)
Gauche: Nikon D3300 avec lentille de base (AF-S DX VR Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G II) et filtre Japan Optics/Gobe 52 mm UV.

Droite: Nikon D3300 avec lentille Olympus OM (Vivitar 80-200mm 1:4.0 Macro Focusing zoom) connectée via un adapteur Fotodiox Pro OM-Nik; filtre Vivitar 55mm Skylight.

La Nikon D3300 est une excellente caméra DSLR pour débutant et très abordable. Toutefois l'utilisation de lentilles standard avec une DSLR est une expérience une peu difficile: l'adapteur ne fonctionne pas avec des lentilles dont l'attachement a des collerettes (trois de mes quatre lentilles OM en ont), on doit utiliser la caméra uniquement en mode manuel (choisir soi-même l'ouverture, la vitesse d'obturation, la sensibilité ISO, ce qui n'est pas toujours évident) et la mise au point est difficile à faire. Je considère donc acheter une zoom pour DSLR avec auto-focus. Mais bon il y a tout un apprentissage à faire aussi (je n'ai pas vraiment fait de véritable photographie depuis vingt-cinq ans, et je fais mes premiers pas avec une caméra DSLR)…

Toutefois, comme le disait Chase Jarvis, “Le meilleur appareil photo est celui qui est avec vous.” Et, dans mon cas, ce sera presque toujours mon iPhone 6s!

En passant, si il y a des intéressés, j'ai deux caméra 35mm Olympus OM-1^N (un boitier noir et l'autre métallique), trois lentilles (OM Zuiko 28mm auto-w, 50mm auto-s et 50mm auto macro), des boucles d'extensions (7, 14, 25 mm) et de multiples filtres (Image 49mm Y2, Hoya +1, +2, +3, et Hoya 85) à vendre. Détails à venir…

[ Translate ]

Fri-tech pic

Look! An Apple Watch ?! For real this time…
Regardez! Serait-ce la fameuse Apple Watch ?! En vrai cette fois…

Image cocasse

Look! An Apple Watch ?!
Regardez! Serait-ce la fameuse Apple Watch ?!

How to save lots of water…

…and completely update your toilet!

Nowadays water conservation is an important problem that we can solve with simple habit changes like not letting the faucet on when brushing your teeth, taking shorter showers, etc. My wife and I are doing our best not to waste any water. For example, we are always washing dishes in a bucket and reuse the waste water in the garden. However, the place wasting the most water in the household is the toilet. We try to flush the toilet as seldom as possible (never to get rid of trash or try to wait after several usage before flushing) but it is not always practical. I thought of changing the toilet for one that has a double-flush system, but a new toilet can be expensive ($250-$300) and mine is a rare pinkish-beige color matching the sink, bath and tiles and I would probably never be able to find the same shade (it would most likely be cheaper and easier to go with the standard white which would be clashing with the rest of the room).

When the water intake of the toilet started leaking I thought: “This is it; I might have to change the toilet and it will be expensive!” Fortunately, I found a way to repair my old toilet and save water at the same time for just a few dollars!

Sony QX10 Camera

I was looking for a new camera to replace my old Canon PowerShot S5IS. Since I got the iPhone 4S I was mostly using the smartphone to take pictures and movies because it was providing a better quality (actually, same quality for the pictures [8 megapixels or 3264 x 2448] but much better for the movies: Canon shots 640 x 480 in mjpeg while the iPhone does 1920 x 1080 in H.264) and was more convenient since it's smaller, lighter and always at hand. I was using the Canon mostly for events like film festivals where I needed to use a zoom for presentations and press conferences (the Canon has a zoom of 12x optical plus 4x digital for a total of 48x, while the iPhone 4S has only a 5x digital zoom). However, the iPhone (equipped with an Olloclip 3-in-1) also has a better macro capability.

Any recent compact point-and-shoot would have been better than the Canon, but since I am a sucker for gadgets, I was quite intrigued when Sony announced their “Smartphone Attachable Lens-Style Camera.” If it is a camera in its own right it can also be considered as a smartphone accessory, just adding to the capability of the phone while remaining compact and handy. It was quite promising. I read all the articles about the upcoming products and felt that this would be the perfect replacement for the Canon PowerShot S5IS. Maybe I was wrong?

Cool motocycle

While watching BBC's Click tech news show, I came across this really cool motocycle of the future. Actually, it is an electric vehicle which is an hybrid between a car and a motocycle. It reminds me of Kaneda's bike in Akira. The particularity of its design is that, thanks to two gyroscopes, it stands upright and can never fall on its side. Called the C1, it was conceived by Lit Motors, a company located in California, and should be available on the market in 2014 for the hefty price of $25,000. Hopefully, with time, the cost will diminish.

This story has been around for a while but I think it's worth sharing anyway. See for yourself how cool it is after the jump >>

Internet on strike!

Today several big websites went on strike. Don't worry we won't follow their example, but we nevertheless want to bring your attention to the reasons of this protest. More details after the jump:

History of the iPhone (in memory of Steve Jobs)

Here's a great video!

CNET UK Presents: History of the iPhone, dedicated to the memory of Steve Jobs from Drew Stearne on Vimeo.

Library Books app

Je suis toujours à l'affut des nouvelles intéressantes, des innovations technologiques et des gadgets utiles. Ainsi, j'ai découvert hier, tout à fait par hasard, une intéressante application pour iPhone, iPod Touch ou iPad qui permet de suivre ses emprunts de bibliothèque et ainsi de ne jamais plus remettre un document en retard!

Il s'agit du Library Books app disponible pour les ordinateurs Macintosh (téléchargeable sur le site internet de l'application) et pour iPhone (disponible sur l' App Store d'Apple). J'ai toujours espéré que quelqu'un ferait un jour une application qui me permettrait de consulter Nelligan, le catalogue du Réseau des Bibliothèques de Montréal, sur l'un de mes bidules mobiles (iPod Touch ou iPad). Malheureusement, tout ce que je peux faire pour l'instant c'est consulter le site internet de Nelligan sur Safari, le navigateur d'Apple. Ce n'est pas vraiment pratique, car de cette façon je dois entrer à chaque fois mon numéro d'usager et mon mot de passe. Une application dédiée garderait ces informations en mémoire.

J'étais sceptique qu'une application générique comme Library Books soit compatible avec le système du Réseau des Bibliothèques de Montréal. J'ai néanmoins consulté la liste des bibliothèques supportées par l'application: on y retrouve la bibliothèque publique de New York, le réseau de bibliothèques du Métro-Boston, ainsi que celles de la plupart des grandes villes américaines ou australiennes, la bibliothèque publique de Toronto et, à ma grande surprise, les bibliothèques publiques de Montréal! 237 bibliothèques supportées en tout!

Une fois qu'on a entré nos information de connection au système ainsi que nos paramètres favoris (“settings”, comme les alertes de retard, etc.), l'application nous donne la liste de nos emprunts (“Loans”) par ordre de date due. Si des titres sont sur le point d'être en retard, la date apparait en rouge et un écusson affichant le nombre de titres dues apparait dans le menu du bas. L'application nous donne aussi la liste de nos réservations (“Holds”), le nombre de réservation disponible pour le retrait (un écusson dans le menu du bas) et notre historique d'emprunt (“History”). Il est intéressant de noter que l'on peut se connecter à plusieurs réseau de bibliothèques.

J'avoue que c'est plutôt simple comme application. Il est dommage que Library Books n'offre pas la possibilité de faire des recherches ou de faire des réservations, mais ce genre de fonctions avancées n'est vraiment possible qu'avec une application dédiée (il probablement impossible de programmer de telles fonctions afin qu'elles soient compatibles avec toutes les 237 bibliothèques supportées par l'application!). Il est toutefois possible d'accéder à son compte sur Nelligan par l'entremise de Library Books (sans avoir à ré-entrer son code de connection) et d'y faire des recherches et des reservations, mais la présentation sur écran laisse un peu à désirer.
Il reste que le but principal de cette application est surtout de s'assurer que les usagers soient aisément informer des dates de retour (leur permettant ainsi de remettre leur documents à temps) et de la disponibilité de leur réservation. C'est quant à moi bien assez et je recommande chaudement cette application même si elle est un peu chère ($2.99 US).
Library Books a été créé par Harold Chu. L'application est disponible, en anglais seulement, dans la catégorie “utilities” de l'iTunes Store pour $2.99 US. Elle est compatible avec tout iPhone, iPod touch, et iPad qui opèrent avec la version iOS 3.0 ou plus (testé avec succès sur iOS 4.0).


[updated 2011-01-22]

Apps & blogue niouse

Je suis tombé cette semaine sur quelques actualités technologiques qui, je crois, mérite bien d'être mentionées à part de ma revue de presse hebdomadaire habituelle:

Comme je l'ai déjà dit, la télévision sur internet a beaucoup d'avenir et la destination de choix pour la télé francophone au Québec est sans doute TouTV.ca. Malheureusement pour moi, TouTV.ca utilise la technologie d'Adobe Flash pour diffuser ses émissions sur le web et je ne peux donc pas les visioner avec mon iPad. Bonne nouvelle: un récent article nous apprend que Tou.tv lancera en décembre des applications iPad et iPhone! Enfin!

Je lis beaucoup d'actualités sur mon iPad. On peut lire l'information directement sur les sites internet des grands quotidiens, mais de plus en plus ceux-ci produisent des applications pour iPhone et iPad afin de présenter les articles (ou, dans la plupart des cas, une sélection d'articles) dans un format qui se lit plus aisément. Un des quotidiens que je lis le plus fréquemment est La Presse (ou “Cyberpresse” pour sa version électronique). Jusqu'à récemment j'utilisais l'application pour iPhone (sur le iPad on double les pixels pour visioner plein écran, mais l'image est moins précise et la présentation plutôt simple) mais il existe depuis quelques semaines une version de l'application pour iPad qui rend la lecture des articles beaucoup plus agréable de par sa superbe présentation. Bravo!

Ça bouge beaucoup chez Apple ces temps-ci. Lors d'une conférence de presse (“Back to the Mac”) tenue le 20 octobre dernier, Apple a dévoilé la mise à jour annuelle de la suite de logiciels iLife (dont j'attend impatiemment la livraison) et a donné un bref aperçu de son prochain système d'opération pour le Mac (OS X 10.7): Lion (attendu pour l'été prochain). On y a également lancé la nouvelle version du portable ultra-léger et rapide (flash-drive oblige!) MacBook Air. De plus, deux autres mise à jour de système d'opération sont attendu pour bientôt: une version améliorée de “Snow Leopard” (Mac OS X 10.6.5, attendue imminament) et iOS 4.2 (qui devrait amener des tas d'amélioration pour l'iPad, dont la fonction multitâche, et qu'on attend en novembre).

Finalement, je ne pouvais pas manquer de mentioner, en cette chaude journée d'Octobre (le mercure atteint les 18'C !!) que mon blogue a maintenant accueillit plus de 10,000 visiteurs! Ces derniers mois, la moyenne de visites quotidienne a presque doublée (à 28). C'est bien mais c'est encore très peu. En un peu plus de cinq ans je n'ai d'ailleurs écrit que trois-cent-quarante-six entrées (dont près de la moitié cette année seulement)... On fait ce qu'on peut (je pourrais faire des entrées plus courtes et plus nombreuses... écouter moins de télé, etc., mais le travail me laisse encore trop vidé de mon énergie).

Je me rattrape néanmoins peu à peu sur mes projets d'articles. Les prochaines entrées à venir seront sans doute les commentaires sur le “hands-on” du iPad, mes apps favorites, les films japonais du FFM, et sur plusieurs lectures (plus ou moins) récentes. De nombreux imprévus causeront certainement des retards et il ne faut pas oublier que je dois mettre (plus) de temps sur mon ménage et mon déménagement! (J'essai de ne pas trop y penser, pcq c'est trop déprimant!). En terminant, je ne peux que (une fois de plus) demander à mes quelques lecteurs de (svp) laisser des commentaires! (histoire de ne pas avoir l'impression de parler dans le vide...)

Allez hop!, passons maintenant à la revue de presse. Les actualités d'intérêts sont nombreuses cette semaine...

A world of illusion

Someone on Facebook recently linked to a video that exposes the fact there are much more special effects shots in most TV series than we would normally expect. It makes sense: as the cost of CGI goes down it becomes simpler and cheaper to simply shoot a scene in front of a green screen rather than go on location. We cannot believe what our eyes are seeing anymore. See the marvel of computer graphics:


Also, a lot of fuss was made recently about the nude scene Jessica Alba had in the movie Machete. The reason? It was another movie magics “fake”. See for yourself.