faces

A few days ago, CNET photographer Josh Miller was going around the office making Cinemagrams. I had seen the app before on the iTunes App Store most-popular lists, but had assumed it was simply a version of Instagram for video. When Josh showed me how the app worked, I was really impressed.

After seeing what Cinemagram could do (more about that below), I started wondering about other animation apps in the App Store and came upon several that were impressive for different reasons, but popular for the interesting animations you could make with your iPhone.

This week's collection of apps is all about making short animations. The first makes stop-motion animations by taking several photos of a moving object. The second makes short videos into animated GIFs you can add to text messages. The third is Cinemagram, an app that lets you make photo and video hybrids that are simple and fascinating.… Read more

It's time to share your searches, stream original content and earn good Karma:

With all the news focused around Facebook, Microsoft just quietly launched its own social network for students called So.cl (pronounced "social"). It's different from Facebook and Google Plus in that it is focused around search. What students search for on So.cl is shared with other So.cl users -- and it can be shared on other networks like Facebook. The idea is to give students a quick and easy way to share information found through searches.

Hulu has unveiled 10 original and exclusive shows … Read more

My watch is an iPod Nano. It's not perfect. In fact, there are many ways I'd like it to be better. But, it works. It also looks cool.

Those are two seemingly small details that are in fact quite major when considering a smart watch these days. "Working" is a matter of opinion and design in some cases, but the point is that the iPod Nano-as-a-watch does exactly what you think it does, and it does it well. So far, that can't be said for Sony's SmartWatch, a confusing remote for Android phones that ends up doing less than you expect it to, yet somehow is hard to even work in that limited capacity. I had a chance to try one out here at CNET, and was surprised at how Sony's solution was good-looking, but a complete slave requiring Bluetooth and an Android phone to get anything done -- even tell the time. That's a problem. A good watch can't mess that part up.… Read more

Photofunia is a ridiculously simple photo effects app that lets you drop your photos into funny and interesting scenes, similar to those you might find at an amusement park photo booth. If, say, you want to see what your face might look like on a billboard in Times Square, Photofunia has an effect for that. How about on the cover of Esquire Magazine? Photofunia's got that covered, too. With an incredible number of effects available, the possibilities seem endless.

To get started with Photofunia, just fire up the app and start looking for an effect you like. You can … Read more

The campaign to get Facebook to appoint a female board member is ramping up. The FACE IT campaign launched earlier this week to draw attention to the fact that the social-networking site had no women on its board of directors and now other groups and individuals are signing on.

Joining the campaign today is the group Ultraviolet, which is a women's group co-founded by Nita Chaudhary who was most recently the outspoken campaign and organizing director for MoveOn.org Political Action. Although Ultraviolet is fairly new on the scene, it already boasts 300,000 members.

"The fact that … Read more

Facebook is under fire once again for lack of women in its leadership. The FACE IT Campaign launched today to draw attention to the fact that as the world's largest social network readies itself to go public, after announcing a $5 billion IPO in February, its board consists only of white men.

"We believe that this board of white men should include women of all colors," states the FACE IT Campaign's mission. "Because Facebook should go public with a board that reflects its own mission--to make the world more open and connected."

Facebook's … Read more

The iPhone is, primarily, a mirror to your soul.

Some people, though, see it as a mirror to their face. Which is, no doubt, why a sensitively enterprising plastic surgeon has created a special procedure so that you can look more attractive while you're on FaceTime.

I can feel your face wrinkling already, but perhaps you are one of the world's facially confident.

Dr. Robert Sigal of the Austin-Weston Center for Cosmetic Surgery in Virginia, on the other hand, knows just how vast a problem FaceTime self-consciousness truly is.

The spark?

"It came from my wife," … Read more

iPhones that have been password-protected and have voice dialing deactivated can still make FaceTime video calls, as well as disclose basic information about a person's list of contacts.

The security loophole, which is present in the latest version of Apple's iOS 5.0.1 software, was discovered earlier this week by Canadian tech writer Ade Barkah, who posted details about it on his blog. CNET confirmed it working on three different iPhones, including the iPhone 4 and 4S.

In short, it works like this: If you've got your iPhone set to what are basically the highest security … Read more

Face Software is Facebook software. In essence, it's a "free-to-use" desktop app integrating Facebook access with a variety of tracking and activity-monitoring tools. These so-called Spy Tools include spying on your so-called loved ones, tracking crushes, monitoring friends, seeing who has unfriended you, and others. Unfortunately, we couldn't access these interesting features, or some fairly basic ones, for that matter, without buying the premium version of the software. So, while the download is free and the software works, the most interesting and unique features are disabled in this so-called freeware.

We downloaded and installed the free … Read more