compositing

Even the busiest people can use a little coaching now and then, but most of the time they're on their own. Task Coach is a free, open-source task and to-do list manager that can help you manage the most hectic schedule and just about any kind of task. For example, you can drag an e-mail message from Outlook, Thunderbird, and other e-mail clients and drop it right into Task Coach to view, attach a task or subtask, or create a new task or reminder. It can track time spent on tasks, export task data as CSV or HTML, and … Read more

Microsoft Image Composite Editor (or ICE) is a multiple image assembler that allows you to quickly import images to generate panoramic photos. You just simply have to drag and drop photos into the application, and ICE will automatically scan and combine the images to create a seamless, high-res panorama.

Despite its long, complicated name, Microsoft Research's app is simple and straightforward. You aren't required to prepare photos or perform any complex ordering. ICE automatically scans each image to determine the best method of stitching images together, both vertically and horizontally. Although I didn't expect it to perform … Read more

MOJAVE DESERT, Calif.--It's hard to imagine a more complete -- and impressive -- collection of aviation facilities and aircraft anywhere on the planet than the one in this vast, arid, wide-open wasteland northeast of Los Angeles.

Thanks to its endless amounts of dry, flat terrain, useless to most people, and the fact that there are only a few ways in -- vital for security -- the Mojave is, and has long been, the beating heart of the aviation world. It's here that Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier. And where Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne ushered in … Read more

SEATTLE--Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan have teamed up on a new winged rocket that would be carried aloft by a gargantuan twin-fuselage mothership and then dropped from 30,000 feet for the climb to orbit, they announced today.

The new rocket will be funded by Allen through a new company known as Stratolaunch Systems and built by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, of Hawthorne, Calif.

The 1.2-million-pound six-engine carrier aircraft, with a wingspan of 385 feet, will be built by Scaled Composites of Mojave, Calif., a company founded by Rutan and now owned by … Read more

Billionaire Paul Allen today announced his grand ambition for the next generation of manned space travel: the largest aircraft ever built, which would be capable of orbital missions with quick turnarounds, greater safety, and better cost-effectiveness than anything previously launched.

At a press conference this morning in Seattle, Allen--a co-founder of Microsoft--along with Burt Rutan unveiled their new company, Stratolaunch Systems. Allen and Rutan previously collaborated on the creation of SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X Prize for being the first privately funded spacecraft to leave the Earth's atmosphere.

Now, Allen and Rutan are at it again, and at … Read more

It has been over a year since the iPhone 4 Antennagate debacle filled the pages of most tech blogs. In that time, everyone from random people on the street to Consumer Reports criticized the iPhone antenna issues, problems that a new patent application from Apple seeks to solve.

Sniffed out by Patently Apple, this application for a window that acts as an antenna may end up being one of the more important filings you'll see this year. In a nutshell, Apple is developing a composite that contains foam cells and could house the iPhone's (or other iDevice's) … Read more

If you've been looking for a way to get video from your iPod, iPad, or iPhone to your vehicle's rear seat entertainment system, Scosche may have a solution for you with its SneakPeek auto. This combination cable and charger adds an iPod input to any in-car video receiver with RCA connections.

Externally, the SneakPeek auto's construction is rather simple. The 9-foot shielded cable features a 30-pin Apple dock connector on one end and a trio of analog gold- and nickel-plated RCA connections at the other. Somewhere along the line, there's a black box that handles the … Read more

There is something kind of magical about creating panoramic images. If all goes as planned, you take several separate photos and then use a piece of software to stitch them seamlessly into one. The best programs do this with little effort on the part of the user and return images that don't betray their piecemeal origins. Image Composite Editor is just such a program. It's easy enough for anyone to use, but the end result is better than we've seen from other, more complex programs.

Image Composite Editor has a plain, uncluttered interface, and creating a panorama … Read more

To green up its iconic brown delivery trucks, UPS is scrapping aluminum in favor of lightweight composite material.

The company last month began testing five delivery trucks built using a plastic-like material that reduces a truck's weight by about 1,000 pounds, or 10 percent. Although that may seem minor, it allows UPS to use a smaller, 4-cylinder diesel engine and get a projected 40 percent improvement in fuel efficiency.

The cost of the trucks is roughly the same, according to UPS executives. The material meets safety requirements and the strength of composite materials, which are widely used in … Read more