A galaxy is unveiled in Star Wars: The Blueprints

 

There’s no question that Star Wars is one of the greatest sagas in the history of film and science fiction. From the bustling streets of Coruscant to the murky swamps of Dagobah, the Star Wars galaxy is vast. While much work has been done in the expanded universe, there has never been a detailed look at how the galaxy originally came to life. Star Wars: The Blueprints reveals the inner workings of one of the most beloved galaxies.

The book includes more than 200 of the detailed original architectural drawings. Over 500 photographs and illustrations spanning the six films sit alongside the blueprints.  The blueprints range from ecosystems and the Cantina to droids and battles.

While the actors undoubtedly brought the movies to life, the real magic happened when pencil met paper. The

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Panasonic announces two new Lumix series cameras – FX150 and FX90

Panasonic has announced a couple new cameras into its Lumix series today, the FZ150 and FX90.  Focusing on the higher-end FX150 first up, this is quite the zoom happy contender with its 24x optical zoom capabilities. It uses a 25mm ultra wide-angle Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens and is capable of recording 1080 60p video.    Looking closer at the specs, it’s got a 12.1-megapixel MOS sensor, a Venus Engine processor, Power O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer), a stereo zoom microphone, 3-inch LCD and sports a 3D Photo mode which works by taking 20 panning shots and selecting two images to synthesize a 3D composite. Read more…

Hello Dolly: CineSkate Puts Wheels On the GorillaPod

When I saw the CineKkates, I thought Why would you want to put wheels onto a short tripod and wheel your camera around on the ground? Then I saw the promo video, shot with the CineSkates itself. Check it out:

CineSkates is a Kickstarter project so popular that it achieved its $20,000 goal in a day, and then blew past that up to $141,000 (and counting). Its simple: a set of three skate wheels attaches to the feet of a GorillaPod Focus, and you twist and bend its jointed legs until the wheels are lined up the way you want them. A ball-head up top lets you set the camera to your preferred angle, and then you start shooting.

The idea is that you now have a tiny, portable dolly for shooting video, only this dolly doesnt just, erm, dolly along.

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ASRock introduces Z68 Extreme 7 PCIe Gen 3 motherboard

Featuring the next generation PCIe GEN 3, this board has all it takes to be the fastest board available for the Intel platform. It is ready for the future with PCIe Gen 3 graphics card. The board also features the NVIDIA aging NF200 chipset to generate more PCIe lanes. It also incorporates the PLX chipset as well for PCIe lane switching. In addition, it also has XFast LAN and other interesting features on board.

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TomTom announces Go Live 1535M in all its app-wielding glory, offers dashboard tweeting

If you’re a fan of TomTom’s Go Live series of nav units, you’ll get a kick out of what the company announced today. Hitting retail and online stores in October is “the world’s first portable navigation device with a suite of popular travel apps,” the Go Live 1535M. That’s right folks, this piece of dashboard flair will allow you to use Yelp, TripAdvisor, Expedia and Twitter all from the comfort of its 5-inch touchscreen. In addition to the new application integration, the GPS juggernaut’s classic features will be available as well: hands-free calling, real-time traffic info, local search, fuel prices and weather forecasts. Read more…