miniatures

TiltShift Generator combines blur and other depth-of-field effects to make objects in your photos seem miniature. To get the miniature effect, you'll ideally take photos from some distance, but even close-up shots can be put through TiltShift Generator with good-looking results.

TiltShift Generator does a great job of taking you through the process of creating tilt-shift images. The app automatically adds the tilt-shift effect, but you can also go through the process yourself. You start by either taking a photo with your iPhone camera or choosing an existing image from your library. From there you can adjust the blurred … Read more

For centuries now, horses have been passed up by technology--forced to live in the shadows of manmade monstrosities like the train or the motorcar that add insult to injury by co-opting the name of their equine forebears with twisted phrases like "Iron Horse," "horsepower," and "Mustang GT."

Those dark times are coming to an end; the age of the bionic horse is upon us.

A miniature horse born sans much of his right leg was recently fitted with a nifty new prosthesis that makes him able to run like some sort of Lee Majors/Seabiscuit hybrid, except, uh...smaller.

When we first heard about this story, we naturally all had the same reaction: "We've gotta get on whatever health insurance plan that tiny horse has!"… Read more

With only 20 in production and a $1.2 million price point, the Lamborghini Reventon is a little hard to come by. But if you're not among the privileged few who will get to drive, much less own, the 650-horsepower exotic, Lamborghini created a radio-controlled version of the Reventon to give the masses a taste of the action. A very little taste: the RC is 1:10 scale of the Reventon, with a 3cc gasoline engine mated to a two-speed transmission, a fully independent suspension with hydraulic shocks, and four-wheel disc brakes. … Read more

It seems like creative shooting modes are popular on this year's compact cameras. For example, though Canon has long given its cameras controls for playing with colors, this year it's just gone and added a handful of simple point-and-shoot options for getting more unusual results. One of them, Miniature Effect, applies a selective focus to scenes making full-size, real-life subjects look like miniature models.

The effect is similar to tilt-shift photography. (Here are some great examples.) Canon doesn't call it that, though, probably because those words don't mean much to most snapshot photographers and because it'… Read more

Car enthusiasts, dealers, collectors, and shoppers will appreciate Car Organizer Deluxe, a souped-up database that makes it easy to enter and record make, model, year, color, and a wide range of other facts about the cars of your choice. Its well-organized interface makes it easy to find, enter, and manage a lot of complex data, including notes, attachments, pictures, and Web sites. Car buyers can use it to compare models, features, and prices, too.

There are a lot of viewing, organizing, searching, and reporting options with Car Organizer Deluxe. It's easy to change colors, graphics, and fonts, among other … Read more

Have microwaves really become so large and unwieldy that we need to make specialized miniature models? SkyMall, which never seems to disappoint (at least on long flights), is offering up this teeny tiny mini mic, ostensibly for cubicle related emergencies.

Measuring up at a measly 10.5 inches tall by 12 inches wide by 10 inches deep, it's safe to say that the Iwavecube Personal Microwave is probably one of, if not the, smallest little block of microwave on the block. I don't have a bag of microwaveable popcorn at the ready, but I'm not convinced a … Read more

Jan Chipchase, a researcher for Nokia, observes how small things are likely to spread more rapidly than big ones, resembling ideas rather than things:

"Today we're comfortable with the rapid dissemination of information and ideas from one side of the globe to the other. What's in Tokyo today can be in Tehran tomorrow and vice versa. When physical things reach a certain size -- being pocketable seems about right, their ability to be picked up and moved around increases considerably. All things being equal small objects much like ideas, travel further, travel faster. They are put into … Read more

As guitar-mania continues to sweep the land, we're surprised that we haven't seen this sooner: a guitar-shaped MP3 player.

The "uRock" even comes with its own miniature amp, which we think would look great on the desk sitting next to a Les Paul USB drive. Aside from its novelty look, it's a legitimate MP3 and WMA player with 1GB of memory and six equalizer levels, according to Chip Chick.

At this size, of course, there's a limit to how much thump you'll get. But for serious volume, you can always hook it up … Read more

This is how I know I've gone off the deep end. It's not enough that my apartment is cluttered with all kinds of knob-covered music devices. Now I'm actually considering buying little miniature versions to populate my cubicle at work. What is broken in my brain that makes me want to drop $20 on a small paper version of a vintage Arp 2600 modular synthesizer? And that's the budget version! Those of you for whom money is no object can commission Dan McPharlin to create your own Lilliputian fantasy recording studio. Now I just need to … Read more