gamma

Meet the 'Corporate Enemies of the Internet' for 2013

National governments are increasingly purchasing surveillance devices manufactured by a small number of corporate suppliers and using them to control dissidents, spy on journalists, and violate human rights, the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders warns in a new report released this afternoon.

The group's 2013 report for the first time names five private-sector companies "Corporate Enemies of the Internet" for their choice to become "digital mercenaries" and sell surveillance and censorship technology to authoritarian regimes.

"If these companies decided to sell to authoritarian regimes, they must have known that their products could be used … Read more

Project Gamma brings intelligent audio to digital comics

AUSTIN, Texas--From the band Love and Rockets lifting its name from the famous cult favorite Hernandez brothers' comic, to a suspiciously-coincidental Jack Kirby and Frank Zappa meeting, comic books and music have a long history of influencing each other.

The fusion of music and comics as directed by the comics' creators has been limited to a list of recommended tunes in the letters pages of the book -- until now. Today, Marvel Comics raised the curtain on a plan to turn that history on its ear with a digital comics-and-music fusion code-named Project Gamma.

Project Gamma is, in the words … Read more

The 404 1,035: Where this episode is spoiler-free (podcast)

"Does anyone else want to tackle the "adorkable" Zooey Deschanel after watching those Siri commercials?" You may not be as annoyed with Apple as Jeff, but we can all agree that the latest batch of iPhone 4S commercials have lowered the bar.… Read more

TV and movies on new iPad look better, but not by much

When I directly compared the screens of old iPad 2 and the new iPad, I immediately noticed the improvement in resolution in text and some graphics, like the Apps icons. Being a TV reviewer, however, I was curious to see if there was any major improvement when watching movies and TV shows.

I spent a few hours this weekend looking at common video sources side-by-side, one on an old iPad 2 (1,024x768-pixel resolution) and one on the new iPad (2,048x1,536 pixels). Despite the massive boost in resolution, and what Apple claims is a 44 percent increase in … Read more

Adjust your display with Gamma Control 3

In digital images, gamma correction or encoding refers to luminance; adjusting it can make video or still pictures seem brighter or darker. Gamma Control is a simple piece of freeware for quickly adjusting your display's gamma without changing your graphics settings. It's great for gaming or watching movies online because it illuminates dark corners and reveals detail, any time you need to brighten (or darken) your display temporarily. We looked at Gamma Control 3, which is ad-supported and includes a feed. Unfortunately, the feed didn't work for us, and the updated version proved a bit buggy.

Gamma … Read more

Blast from empty space poses mystery

Just when space scientists thought they had solved the mystery of the brightest explosions in the universe, along comes one that has the experts befuddled.

Read the full report at Discovery News: "Blast from empty space poses mystery"