Well Played: Battle Royale

Games, like all mass culture, are administered ideology, but to have effective force they must not be too dogmatic or stale — the widespread recognition of vulgar state-produced propaganda as such masks the more insidious but no less propagandistic functioning of culture marke…

Papercraft Computers

Rocky Bergen makes paper models of vintage electronics and computing gear. And here’s the cool bit…you can download the plans to print and fold your own: Apple II, Conion C-100F boom box, Nintendo GameCube, and Commodore 64. Tags: Apple   Apple II   Commodore 64�…

5 Useful Tips on Buying Your First Film Camera

So, you're a digital photographer who decided to try your hand on shooting film. Congratulations, you're in for a ride, beginning with your very first film camera purchase. If that sounds exciting yet daunting, it really is both. But what it doesn't have to be is stressful or co…

Review: Tamron 17-35mm f2.8-4 Di OSD (Canon EF)

When the Tamron 17-35mm f2.8-4 Di OSD was offered to us for review, I have to say that with all honesty I wasn't all that excited. Zoom lenses are very useful, but primes are where my heart is. Tamron's zoom lenses have traditionally been very good since their rework a few year…

Brush up on Your Hasselblad History With This Quick Video

Hasselblad remains one of the best known photography brands today. But apart from the premium price tag, it actually has a pretty colorful history and an outstanding track record in optics. If you're not yet familiar with it, advertising and fashion photographer and Hasselblad a…

This week - QY70

Lazyweb, help me get un-blocked by Earthlink and Dreamhost

I've convinced the A-list and B-list mail hosts to accept mail from me, but I have customers using a couple of the C-listers who still block me. Can you help? IP 3.16.178.106 is blocked by EarthLink. Go to earthlink.net/block for details. (in reply to MAIL FROM command) That say…

Review: SKB iSeries 2011-7 Waterproof Utility Case

One of the challenges of being a commercial photographer that travels frequently from assignment to assignment is that we often find ourselves having to travel with some rather expensive equipment. Nothing stings more than arriving at a job only to discover that your equipment h…

Control Keys

All of this: blarg: "I spend a lot of time thinking about keyboards, and I wish more people did." I'm not even mad about the letter layout -- you do you, Dvorak weirdos -- but that we give precious keycap real estate to antiquated arcana and pedestrian novelty at the expense of…

Quote of the Day

“Oh, my God! This man is my exact double! . . . That dog has a puffy tail! . . . Here puff! Here puff!” – Homer Simpson

Cheap Photo: $250 off EOS R! 5D Mk4 for $1,999.99! 6,000 PS Overlays for $39

If you're still hunting for great camera deals, and for savings on software, guides, and accessories, you're going to want to check out this post. You can save $250 on the brand new Canon EOS R. You can pick up the Canon 5D Mk IV for under two grand, A Sony A7R II for $1,598, an…

“Working” by Robert Caro

Robert Caro, author of The Power Broker and The Years of Lyndon Johnson, is coming out with a memoir called “Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing” that provides a behind-the-scenes look at his brilliant writing career. For the first time in his long career, Robert…

James Wenzel on Twitter: “so a delivery robot caught fire on...

James Wenzel on Twitter: “so a delivery robot caught fire on berkeley’s campus and students set up a candlelight vigil for it”

Life-Size Stone Mosaics Based on 16th-Century Anatomical Drawings

Sculptor John T. Unger is making a series of life-size stone mosaics based on anatomical drawings by the 16th-century Italian scientist Bartolomeo Eustachi. Bartolomeo Eustachi, one of the first modern anatomists, is also considered the first comparative anatomist, as he was…

This Big Book of Pit Bull Headshots from Hollywood is So Heartwarming

We've all heard the terror stories about Pit Bulls and how they're a dangerous breed of dog. One photographer though is doing his best to raise awareness about this kind, playful breed through a new campaign on Indiegogo. By creating a big book full of headshots that show off Pi…

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The Best News Bloopers of 2018

Today has been a weird day for no particular reason and this 15-minute collection of the best news bloopers of 2018 fits right in. yeah guys yeah guys yeah guys yeah guys yeah guys yeah guys yeah guys yeah guys yeah guys yeah guys yeah guys yeah guys yeah… See also a round…

nikitonsky is being grumpy

nikitonsky: so... If I can both authorize and de-authorize this computer, which state is it in right now? Quantum superposition?

Could the 40mm F1.4 Art be One of the Sharpest Sigma Lenses Ever Made?

There's no doubt about the fact that Sigma lenses are some of the sharpest currently available. From the 18-35mm f1.8 Art that shook the world of APS-C cameras a few years back, to the super sharp 135mm f1.8 Art that was released last year; sharpness hasn't ever really been an i…

Package Thief vs. Glitter Bomb Revenge Package

This is pretty nerdy and entertaining. After someone stole a package off of his porch, Mark Rober spent months designing and building a fake package to get revenge on the next person stupid enough to try it. He outfitted the box with GPS, motion sensors, four cameras that auto…

Happy Holidays from the Team at LOKI

Please note that the studio will be closed between December 17, 2018 and January 7, 2019. We wish you a joyous and restful end of the year, and we look forward to working together again in the future. All power to the people! And all the very…

Photographer Stephen DiRado On Documenting His Father’s Battle with Alzheimer’s

Stephen DiRado has been taking photographs since he was 12 years old. From early on, his friends and family became accustomed to him pointing a camera in their face. The camera was the bridge that brought him closer to those around him. In the late 1980s his father's (Gene) heal…

freetonik is being grumpy

freetonik: The creator of this table had one job. Maybe it's just me, but I have no idea what these icons mean. Does x mean "no"? Oh, wait, empty circle is kind of like zero, so it must be "no"... Or?..

freetonik is being grumpy

freetonik: Netflix Apple TV app is getting worse and worse. The current version loads for a solid 30 seconds and then shows an ad on the user selection screen. This screen is bad in itself: I MUST click on my name even though it's the only name. How often do I need to "Add pro…

Four short links: 18 December 2018

Singing AI, Content Signing, Data Rights, and Query Processing AI Voices -- marketing copy, but I can't find technical detail. The demos are worth checking out. The sprint to automated pop music generation has begun. Not just limited to Japanese, as it is also capable of pro…

My delight on a shining night

A film and exhibition about flamingos, migration, and the history of radar.

Review: Fujifilm XF 200mm f2 OIS WR (Fujifilm X Mount)

The Fujifilm XF 200mm f2 OIS WR is currently the company's longest telephoto prime lens and also, by far, their largest. Designed for wildlife photography and sports to some degree, this lens is arguably best used in the hands of a wildlife photographer. Though we were sent the…

What I published in 2018

It's that time of year again, when some authors remind everyone that they're eligible for various awards for fiction published in 2018. My total publications for 2018 consisted of: two novels and one novelette. You probably haven't read the novelette because it's published in…

Peak Brexit

Just popping in to note that, in the wake of the failed ERG leadership challenge against Theresa May, Brexit hysteria has escalated so far that mainstream political pundits in major newspapers are invoking Cthulhu in print. Words fail me. I really, truly, cannot cope with this s…

Typo Hunt: The Labyrinth Index

So, it has come to my attention that there are a few typos in "The Labyrinth Index". Can you help me track them down so I can get them fixed in future editions? Reporting requirements: it's not useful to tell me "you misspelled 'Bob' somewhere". I need to know: If a paper edi…

Brexit! Means! Brexit!

So: Brexit means Brexit means, apparently, a choice between a deal negotiated by Theresa May's government which is broadly as appealing as eating a shit sandwich, or leaving the EU with no transitional arrangement in place, the equivalent of stripping naked and rolling around in…

What do you know about my inner demons?

Sometimes current affairs rally round and serve up the perfect backdrop to a book launch - and so it was earlier this year, when the Cambridge Analytica story broke just as my debut novel Everything About You was published. As you probably remember, data was taken from around…

New Guest Blogger: Heather Child

Hello everyone, and apologies for the lack of activity here lately! I'd like to introduce you to our new guest blogger, Heather Child. Heather is a Bristol, UK based author who has worked in non-profit marketing for the last twelve years, coming into close contact with the digi…

Happy Halloween!

The Labyrinth Index is here in time for Halloween, because 2018 just hasn't been scary enough! The year: 2015, in an even worse time line than this one. The place: The Palace of Westminster, London, and parts further west (a long way west). The person: Dame Mhari Murphy, BS…

Publishing: A Slice of Life

The problem of fraud on the internet needs no introduction, but sometimes it takes on manifestly surreal forms. Here's an extract from the US National Cyber-Security Center's weekly threat report from last week: Publishing House Phishing Warning: Penguin Random House North Am…

Crib Sheet: The Delirium Brief

Shockingly, it has been drawn to my attention that The Labyrinth Index is nearly in print and yet I have failed to issue my usual crib sheet for The Delirium Brief. This cannot be! So without further ado ... The eighth book in The Laundry Files (a title pinned on the series by…

Book launches for The Labyrinth Index

Hi! I'm in Toronto right now, and back in Edinburgh next week. Which leads neatly into me announcing the two launches I'm doing for The Labyrinth Index. North America launch: although the official publication date remains October 30th, Tor have kindly given me the green light…

The Labyrinth Index: sneak preview!

The folks at Tor.com have kindly posted the first chapter of The Labyrinth Index for your reading edification. Enjoy! (I hope.)

Do my Homework

So, anent nothing in particular, I was contemplating another of James Nicoll's essays on Tor.com the other day—this one concerning utopias in SF—and found myself trying to stare into my own cognitive blind spot. Like all fiction genres, SF is prone to fashion trends. For ex…

Media Piracy and Unpronounceable Names

By now, if you're one of Charlie's readers, you've probably absorbed the notion that security is a process. It's not easy to go from that to what it means in operant terms, but I lack sense so I'm going to try. E-books get pirated automatically, inevitably, and with malicio…

"I doubt me an it be commercial."

Most of the pitches for self-publishing as an activity are about how you can make money. If you want to make money, you need to publish rapidly and you need to have a consistent brand in terms of what the writing is like, what kind of reading effort is involved, and where it ge…

Upcoming Appearances

Charlie here (back again, briefly), with news on two upcoming appearances. Firstly, I'm in Berlin next Monday (September 10th) (that's the capital of Germany, not the small town in New Hampshire—or the one in Maryland): I'm doing a reading and Q&A (and signing, of course)…

Christian Reister Gritty Black and White Photos Capture Berlin’s Frenetic Nightlife

The night is young, the drinks are cold, and the parties are colorful -- but it's a different face of nightlife that you'll see in this new photo book by German photography Christian Reister. Titled Berlin Nights, this volume offers a more gritty and personal approach in monochr…

Useful Photography Tip #190: A Relatable Tip to Justify Your Costs as a Wedding Photographer

Though this is partially written in satire, I think that it's a wonderful point to sometimes make to couples who are about to elope--just how to justify the costs of your services as a wedding photographer. And for years, the tradition has been to talk about the memories that th…