Listen and Watch How the Sounds of Transformers 3 Were Made [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5819429/listen-and-watch-how-the-sounds-of-transformers-3-was-made

Soundworks Collection has a great little feature on a very big movie called Transformers 3. Heard of it? Sure! In this video you get to see how the movie's sound effects were made using dry ice, electric guitars and more.

We already know the creative sound methods used in Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon (like tigers with emphysema) but in the video above you get to see the sound artists actually at work. Their passion for the project and getting it right bleeds through, they examine every detail of every possible sound everywhere. Dry ice melting on metal is freaky, they used it. Spending days on an electric guitar is painstaking, they did it. It's always awesome to see behind the scenes of movie making magic. [SoundWorks Collection]

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Remains of the Day: YouTube Launches New Redesign Entitled "Cosmic Panda" [For What Its Worth]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5819182/remains-of-the-day-youtube-launches-new-redesign-entitled-cosmic-panda

YouTube tries out new, sleek, redesign; Apple promises to fix .pdf loophole for jailbreaking; Gizmodo takes a look at what exactly goes into a "Social Media Background Check."

• YouTube launches new experimental redesign, "Cosmic Panda": [YouTube] via [Mashable]
• Kindle users with New York Times subscriptions now have free access to NYT Online: [New York Times] via [mocoNews]
• Apple to patch latest jailbreak hole in upcoming software update: [MacRumors]
• Chrome extension allows users to add Facebook events to Google Calendars: [Chrome Web Store] via [Addictive Tips]
• Paypal to buy Zong, will allow for purchases through paid through cellphone bills: [PayPal Blog] via [MacWorld]
• The inner workings of a social media background check: [Gizmodo]

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The bizarre mathematical conundrum of Ulam's Spiral [Maths]

Source: http://io9.com/5819325/the-bizarre-mathematical-conundrum-of-ulams-spiral

If there's anything we learn from math teachers and the Da Vinci Code, it's that prime numbers are magic. They can do anything, and be anywhere. Including a doodle on a math paper.

In the 1960s, a gentleman known as Stanislaw Ulam was making his way through a miserable meeting by doodling on a piece of paper. Unlike most of us, who only manage to do 3D cubes and obscene drawings of people we don't like, Ulam tried filling his paper with math. And he discovered something very strange. Ulam drew a '1' at the center of his paper. Directly to the right of the one he drew a '2.' Above the two he drew '3', and continued spiralling the numbers outwards toward from the one. When he was done filling up the page, he decided to circle all the prime numbers - the numbers divisible only by one and themselves.

What he found was a lot of diagonal lines. They crisscrossed the paper, sometimes in short bursts and other times in long strings. While there are plenty of singularities and outliers, a large plot of the primes on Ulam's Spiral shows a remarkable density of diagonals. Further plotting with computers show that these diagonals appear even when the numbers get high, and even when the spiral doesn't originate with the number one. Change the spiral from one that's plotted on a grid to one that's plotted on a circular spiral, and the lines will change direction, but they'll still be there. Plot it on the hexagon - more lines.

It's things like this that make prime numbers so eery. They keep showing up in nature, in important functions, and in pure mathematical play. (I think they're the ghosts of ancient Greek numerals.)

Via Good Math.

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Someone Thought It Was Clever Combining Instagram With Color [Apps]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5819324/someone-thought-it-was-clever-combining-instagram-with-color

Far from being lukewarm, Instacolor takes the best bits of Instagram and combines them with the location-specific guidelines of the unpopular Color, helping you find other photo-sharers in your proximity, in real time. Out now, it costs $1. [iTunes via TechCrunch]

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Apple Patent Shows Visual Content Sharing Between iPad and iPhone [Patents]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5819338/apple-patent-shows-visual-content-sharing-between-ipad-and-iphone

From the looks of things, Apple has been working on a content sharing feature between iOS devices, much like HP is doing on WebOS with the TouchPad and Pre 3. But taking things one step further, they've animated it all.

According to Patently Apple, Apple is working on a method of sharing files, contacts, webpages, etc., that is activated by gestures which are metaphoric in nature. The prime example here, is "pouring" files from your iPhone to your iPad.

Example: A Pouring Motion

Apple's patent FIG. 1B illustrates an iPhone (device 110) in motion relative to the iPad (device 120). Here, the user has rotated their iPhone above the iPad's interface (122) in a manner similar to tipping a glass of water. This angular motion can be detected by one or more onboard motion sensors.

As shown in FIG. 1B, detached objects 114a-114d could be animated to simulate the effect of gravity by "sliding" toward the lowermost portion of interface 112 as device 110 is rotated. The animation of the objects creates the appearance that the objects have mass and are reacting to forces of a real world, physical environment. In FIG. 1C, we see that the iPad could interpret the rotation of the iPhone as a pouring motion as an indication of the user's intent to transfer the files represented by selected objects 114a-114d.

Upon determining that the user of the iPhone intends to transfer the files, the iPhone (device 110) determines if the iPad (device 120) is present and available to receive the files. After a link is established between the two devices by Bluetooth or RFID and authenticated, the iPhone could request that the iPad accept a file transfer.

Other physics based examples include floating objects, friction, repelling forces, and a vacuum-like effect that would come from something like an Apple TV. And this all sounds entertaining, but maybe a bit over the top. Can't I just tap my two devices together and call it a day? [Patently Apple]

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