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Playing a building like an instrument, using flashlights

Playing a building like an instrument, using flashlights

The list of installations for next month's Beam electronic and analog music festival in West London has brought a playful and mysterious piece of art to our attention -- a surprising cocktail of high and low tech.

Sound artist Mike Blow is on the Beam bill, and his recent piece "Torch Song" combines a microphone-and-laptop setup with light sensors to create a control panel that lets its user "play" a building -- using flashlights.

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Science-y love blooms into 250-tulip proposal

Science-y love blooms into 250-tulip proposal

John Gottula is a patient man. His proposal to girlfriend Kelly Voll took more than six months. No, this wasn't the slowest knee-lowering in history. It was a carefully hatched horticultural plot.

When it comes to geek love, we've come across proposals involving Super Mario, iPhone apps, "Back to the Future," and Twitter. Gottula, a graduate research assistant in plant pathology and plant-microbe biology at Cornell University, turned to his science background in horticulture for inspiration.

"I've heard of men proposing by hiring a pilot and popping the question with a banner. That's expensive; plus I don't have a flair for aeronautics," Gottula tells Crave. "Planting flowers to spell out a proposal seemed more like a horticultural way of doing it."

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Olympus reveals fast telephoto prime lens

Olympus reveals fast telephoto prime lens

There's not a lot to say here, except that this lens, with its effective focal length of 150mm on the Micro Four Thirds system and a fast aperture of f1.8, sounds like a great addition to the pool of MFT lenses.

Olympus doesn't currently have any fast telephotos in its MFT lineup -- just some really clunky, slow zooms, and Panasonic's best equivalent only goes as low as f2.8 (for about the same $899.99 price). Olympus' 45mm f1.8 is one of my favorite MFT lenses, and this looks pretty similar. I can't wait to give it a shot, so to speak.

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Low Latency No. 24: Buyer's remorse

Low Latency No. 24: Buyer's remorse

We're no economists here at Low Latency (and quite frankly we don't really understand the stock market), but if we could afford to invest in Facebook we'd certainly be upset about its 18-percent drop on day one. It's been falling steadily for a few days and the talk of Facebook's valuation being totally out of whack is now commonplace.

How ironic is it that a site that lets people mislead others about who they really are has its own identity crisis on Wall Street?

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Apple tinkers with iPen stylus and haptic feedback

Apple tinkers with iPen stylus and haptic feedback

Despite the late Steve Jobs' mockery of a stylus, Apple has been tinkering with the notion of an iPen complete with haptic feedback.

That's according to a newly published patent application unearthed by enthusiast site Patently Apple. Apple's idea for an iPen would include haptic feedback to improve the user interface.

Users would feel a small vibration depending on how much pressure they applied to the stylus, or whether the stylus moved over a link on the screen, creating a more realistic experience. It could also vary depending on the angle of the stylus, orientation to the screen, more

LG's $10,000 OLED: Hands-on

LG's $10,000 OLED: Hands-on

Big-screen OLED TV technology has taken years to come to market, and LG's 55EM9600 won CNET's Best of CES award in January, so among technology enthusiasts, it's safe to classify anticipation for the 4mm-thin television as "high."

CNET's Asia's TV reviewer Philip Wong got the opportunity to spend some hands-on time with an early version of the set yesterday in Monaco, and he liked what he saw -- from deep black levels to superb off-angle viewing, with a potential for accurate color. His conclusion?

In many ways, the 55EM9600 is the "spiritual successor" to the lengendary Pioneer Kuro. Until we have a chance to check out the Samsung OLED panel, this LG easily sets the new benchmark in terms of TV picture quality and slim design.

Check out his full impressions here, including plenty of in-person pictures and TV nerd eye candy.

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As promised, Fujifilm reveals M-mount adapter for X-Pro1

As promised, Fujifilm reveals M-mount adapter for X-Pro1

Come this June, you'll finally be able to use your languishing Leica lenses on the Fujifilm X-Pro1 -- or at least expand on Fujifilm's small collection of lenses.

The new M-Mount Adapter will cost $199.99 and seems to provide full compatibility, including support for the camera's viewfinder framing corrections. Via the camera's Mount Adapter Settings you'll be able to create profiles for up to six lenses with corrections for distortion, peripheral illumination, and color shading across the frame.

It sounds well-built -- aluminum mount on the body side, stainless steel on the lens side, connected by aluminum.

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Will we see Xbox 720 in 2013, PlayStation 4 in 2014?

Will we see Xbox 720 in 2013, PlayStation 4 in 2014?

There's no official word yet on the release date for the next-generation successors to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but a recent Los Angeles Times article suggests the launch timeframe for the next-generation gaming consoles could happen over the next several years.

The latest rumor originates from a recent lawsuit involving Activision that brought to light details of the company's publishing agreement with game developer Bungie.

The contract, a 10-year deal made between the two companies in 2010, indicates that Activision expects Bungie to launch a sci-fantasy, action shooter game code-named "Destiny" in November 2013 for the Xbox 360 as well as a specifically referenced Xbox 720. A game for the PlayStation 4 would arrive in 2014, as noted in the official agreement between Activision and Bungie.

So did that contract just inadvertently announce when we should expect the next Xbox and PlayStation consoles? more

Intel's latest desktop board: Finally Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 coexist

Intel's latest desktop board: Finally Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 coexist

More than a year after it was first launched exclusively for Macs, the Thunderbolt standard is now officially available for PCs, too. And by "officially," I mean you can literally buy a motherboard and build a system on your own that supports Thunderbolt.

There's been a lot of talk about Thunderbolt getting to PCs since the standard was first launched. Rumor had it Intel would show off PC motherboards that supported Thunderbolt at CES 2012 (which it didn't). On Monday, however, Intel quietly launched the standard for the PC platform, and today I have in my hand the Intel Desktop Board DZ77RE-75K, the first Thunderbolt-certified motherboard that comes with a built-in Thunderbolt port. The wait is finally over.

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