velvet sky wallpaper

Velvet Sky Image


Starship77Apr 15, 03:34 PMActually, shooting up close with a wide-angle lens will give you exactly that distortion. Here is a photo I just took of a REAL iPhone with a 17mm lens. Sorry about the fuzziness - handheld and did not use a flash:

http://www.marulla.com/files/perspective.jpg

So I don't think text in the 3rd photo is skewed. That being said, I agree it's a fake.

What gives the bad impression is that, since is a 3D rendering, it doesn't have lens distortion (because the guy "forgot" about it). Real lenses always gives you some barrel distortion because they are curved, and the standard camera in a 3D software is always just straight 3 point perspective. When you put it in an angle that gives too much perspective it looks strange.

Specially the first image, is a good 3D, but is not realistic enough to be perceived as a photo because of:

1- Lack of lens distortion
2- Very linear noise, obviously applied.
3- Un-natural light
4- Not so realistic dynamic range and exposure
5- Shadows are too smooth for that kind of flash-light
6- Light is too uniform
7- The model is good, but you can see that there are some hard edges that are not natural.
8- Doesn't have any camera meta-data. (he "forgot" to fake that also)

and a few other minor things... but yeah, it's a very good 3D work!:)

if you want to do a little test with your abilities to tell if it's cg or not:
http://area.autodesk.com/fakeorfoto/challenge

a little too easy though... ;)




velvet sky pictures


LightSpeed1Apr 8, 01:35 PMGreat cover story.




Velvet Sky Edit by


iMikeTOct 19, 05:22 PMWhen one considers Dell's quality of their computers, why are they still #1?




Angelina Love amp; Velvet Sky


yamatoSep 12, 07:50 AMAlso Italian Music store reports IT IS Showtime The iTunes Store is been updating message... Can`t wait!! But an eventually Video Store will be available only in USA as almost usual?




TNA Velvet Sky Wearing


macEfanNov 24, 08:37 PMstore.apple.com is still near crawl levels. It appears you can shop now (the whole system has been sluggish for the past few hours), but at least the products and the deals pages are working. As FC said, the order review still does not work. My errors range from no errors to connection to database problems. Gotta love Thanksgiving!

No problems for me yet. yay I got a good price on an AP express!




TALIA MADISON aka Velvet Sky


Lord BlackadderAug 10, 01:10 PMThere's nothing really sinister about it. It's just harder to measure and to this point, there's been no point in trying to measure it in comparison to cars.

I understand that they have to be measured differently, but doesn't it make sense that they be compared apples-to-apples (if possible) to the vehicles they are intended to replace?

Most people do ignore it to a large extent, because they say "heck, if it costs me $1 to go 40 miles on electric vs. $2.85 to go 40 miles on gasoline, then that *must* be more efficient in some way". And they are probably right. Economics do tend to line up with efficiency (or government policy).

That is true, but as you pointed out later "green", "efficient", "alternative[to oil imports]" are not all the same thing. Perhaps they are more green but less efficient, or less efficient but more green. Just being more efficient in terms of bang for buck is not necessarily also good from an environmental or alternative energy standpoint. But you are right that the end cost per mile is going to weigh heavily when it comes to consumer acceptance of new types of autos.

I think it's great that European car manufacturers have invested heavily in finding ways to make more fuel efficient cars. And they have their governments to thank for that by making sure that diesel is given a tax advantage vs. gasoline. About 15 years ago, Europe recognized the potential for efficiency in diesels to ultimately outweigh the environmental downside. It was a short-term risk that paid off and now that they have shifted the balance, Europe is tightening their diesel emissions standards to match the US. Once that happens, I'm sure there will a huge market for TDIs in the US and we'll have a nice competitive landscape for driving-up fuel efficiency with diesels vs. gasoline hybrids vs. extended range electrics.

I would argue that Europe's switch to diesels did not involve quite the environmental tradeoff you imply - in the 70s we in the US were driving cars with huge gasoline engines, and to this day diesel regulation for trucks in this country is pretty minimal. Our emissions were probably world-leading then - partially due to the fact that we had the most cars on the roads by far. The problem lies (in my heavily biased opinion) in ignorance. People see smoke coming off diesel exhausts and assume they are dirtier than gasoline engines. But particulate pollution is not necessarily worse, just different. People are not educated about the differerence between gasoline engine pollution and diesel engine pollution. Not to mention the fact that diesel engines don't puff black smoke like they did in the 70s. I'm not arguing that diesels are necessarily cleaner, but they are arguably no worse than gasoline engines and are certainly more efficient.

Whether or not it's "greener" depends upon your definition of green. If you're worried about smog and air quality, then you might make different decisions than if you are worried about carbon dioxide and global warming. Those decisions may also be driven by where you live and where the electricity comes from.

A lot of people in the US (and I assume around the world) are also concerned about energy independence. For those people, using coal to power an electric car is more attractive than using foreign diesel. Any cleaner? Probably not, but probably not much dirtier and certainly cheaper. Our government realizes that we can always make power plants cleaner in the future through regulation, just as Europe realized they could make diesels cleaner in the future through regulation. Steven Chu is no dummy.

It's a fair point. Given the choice, I would prioritize moving to domestic fuel sources in the short term over a massive "go green" (over all alse) campaign.

Which is why we will need new metrics that actually make sense for comparing gasoline to pure electric, perhaps localized to account for the source of power in your area. For example, when I lived in Chicago, the electric was 90% nuclear. It's doesn't get any cleaner than that from an air quality / greenhouse gas standpoint. However, if you're on the east coast, it's probably closer to 60% coal.

I agree completely. The transition needs to be made as transparent as possible. People need to know the source, efficiency and cleanliness of their power source so that they can make informed choices.

I think you're smart enough to know that it's more efficient, but you're not willing to cede that for the sake of your argument, but I encourage you to embrace the idea that we should have extended range electrics *and* clean diesels *and* gasoline hybrids. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

I'm not trying to sound stubborn, I simply have not come accross the numbers anywhere. I don't get paid to do this research, ya know. I do it while hiding from the boss. ;)

I've seen that propaganda FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) before. It doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Let's consider that the power grid can handle every household running an air conditioner on a hot summer day. That's approximately 2000-3500 watts per household per hour during daytime peak load (on top of everything else on the grid.) Now let's consider that a Volt (or equivalent) has a 16kw battery that charges in 8 hours. That's 200 watts per hour, starting in the evening, or the equivalent of (4) 50 watt light bulbs. This is not exactly grid-overwhelming load.

I'm no math whiz (or electrician), but wouldn't 200 watts/hr * 8 hours = 1.6kw, rather than 16kw? I thought you'd need 2kw/hr * 8hrs to charge a 16kw battery.

It's not that I don't think people have looked into this stuff, it's just that I myself have no information on just how much energy the Volt uses and how much the grid can provide. In the short term, plugin hybrids are few in number and I don't see it being an issue. But it's something we need to work out in the medium/long term.

Or, some would argue that the biggest thing that Americans have trouble with are a few people telling them what the majority should or shouldn't do - which is, as it seems, the definition of "Communism", but I wouldn't go so far as to say that. :)

Communism means nothing in this country, because we've been so brainwashed by Cold War/right-wing rhetoric that, like "freedom", the term has been stolen for propaganda purposes until the original meanings have become lost in a massive sea of BS. I was using it for it's hyperbole value. :D

Most people do indeed realize that they can get better mileage with a smaller car and could "get by" with a much smaller vehicle. They choose not to and that is their prerogative. If the majority wants to vote for representatives who will make laws that increase fuel mileage standards, which in turn require automakers to sell more small cars - or find ways to make them more efficient - that is also their prerogative. (And, in case you haven't noticed, in the last major US election, voters did indeed vote for a party that is increasing CAFE standards.)

Well, that's the nature of democracy. But it's not so much a question of the fact that people realize a smaller car is more efficient, but a question of whether people really care about efficiency. I have recently lived in Nevada and Alaska, two states whose residents are addicted to burning fuel. Seemingly everyone has a pickup, RV and four-wheelers. Burning fuel is not just part of the daily transportation routine - it's a lifestyle.

CAFE standardsAnd if it's important to you, you should do your part and ride a bike to work or buy a TDI, or lobby your congressman for reduced emissions requirements, or stand up on a soap box and preach about the advantages of advanced clean diesel technology. All good stuff.

I walk to work. I used to commute 34 miles a day (total), and while I never minded it, I felt pretty liberated being able to ditch the car for my daily commute. Four years of walking and I don't want to go back. I love cars and motorsport, and I don't consider myself an environmentalist, but I got to the point where I realized that I was driving a lot more than necessary. That realization came when I moved out of a suburb (where you have to drive to get anywhere) and into first a small town and then a biggish city. In both cases it became possible to walk almost everywhere I needed to go. A tank of fuel lasted over a month (or longer) rather than a week from my highway-commuting days. And I lost weight as I hauled by fat backside around on foot. ;)

I won't be in the market for another car for a few years, and my current car (a Subaru) is not very fuel efficient - but then again it has literally not been driven more than half a dozen times in the last six months. When the time comes to replace it I'll be looking for something affordable (ruling out the Volt) but efficiency will be high on the priority list, followed by green-ness.

I wonder if all of you people who are proposing a diesel/diesel hybrid are Europeans, because in America, diesel is looked at as smelly and messy - it's what the trucks with black smoke use.

<snip>

As far as the Chevy Volt goes, I just don't like the name... but the price is right assuming they can get it into the high $20,000's rather quickly.

I'm an American, and yes I've seen the trucks with black smoke. We just need to discard that preconception. This isn't 1973 anymore. We also need to tighten up emissions regualtion on trucks.

The Volt is a practical car by all acoioutns, but it costs way too much. The battery is the primary contributing factor, I've heard that it costs somewhere between $8-15k by itself. Hopefully after GM has been producing such batteries for a few years the cost will drop substantially.




Velvet Sky addresses Angelina


matrix07Apr 16, 12:43 PMNo, when Apple revealed the iPhone most people were thinking something along the line of "Apple seriously need to reconsider leaving out 3G and the ability to install software if they want to make it in the smart phone business", a phone that doesn't let you install new software is by definiton not a smart phone. The iPhone 3G was the real deal, ofcourse the first gen was successful, simply because it was Apple, but the 3G was when it turned into a good product and soared in popularity.
And iPhone is far from the first icon based phone and I personally believe the Sony Ericsson P800 and P900 was a big inspiration for iPhone.

It still hurts you, isn't it? When it's Apple that re-invent the phone.
Goes on. Keep denying pal. Let us know how hurt you are. Pundits out there all accepted what iPhone did to the industry. Only bitter person like you can not accept that. :cool:

I find this whole "Apple invented the smartphone" argument amusing.

You are one of those idiots crawling at Engadget who saw Macworld 2007 keynote and think only one thing.. "touch screen keyboard? Yuck!!!", I guess. LOL




Jeff Hardy and Mickie James


door4Sep 12, 07:56 AMTo be honest I don't care about the bitrate of audio tracks..

However if they brought American TV shows onto a global release date (ie we get them the same time as they do) - THEN i'd care about the update.

Anything else is just more clutter..


Don't be to hopeful... most of our (US) tv is crap. I'd rather watch BBC.




Velvet Sky Image


KnightWRXMay 1, 06:22 PMInteresting...there are 3 files called "MobileTestIPhone.html", "MobileTestIPhoneRetina.html", and MobileTestIPad.html with accompanying Javascript and CSS files in Safari's Resources folder:

Typing an address into the address field doesn't do anything but perhaps something is forthcoming.

The "missing plug-in" is "application/x-mobile-test"

In when Steve introduced the iPhone, he told us how "web applications" were going to be the future for the device. This is probably just a way to test those web applications you can write for iOS devices (the capability is still there, just not used very much in favor of native applications).




Velvet Sky Design by ~Lilhypa1


mcrainApr 26, 09:29 AMIt wasn't a skeevy guy, not even remotely.

She was in the right restroom, there is a good option, for her to use the loo appropriate to her gender, female.

I know it wasn't a skeevy guy. What I also know is that transgendered people have to deal with all sorts of problems, including what restroom to use. A transgendered woman going into a women's room should not be treated like a skeevy guy going into a restroom, but it happens. I've seen it happen. I pointed out the comparison to spark a conversation, not to say it's right, but to say the comparison is often made. Either there is a failure of education and tolerance, or some accomodation needst to be made, or maybe security should be better, or something...

Oh, and there are too many people who make unfounded assumptions. This story is proof of that.

Out of curiosity, do you actually know what gender she was? Was she post-op? Pre-op? Does it matter? I think a woman sitting in a stall might freak out by someone peeing upright next to them.

You would think that; however one could argue that black Americans don't repay the goodwill done towards their causes by standing up for other minorities. In fact, you could say that they do the opposite and use other minorities as scape goats for their problems. You could say that but then everyone would just call you a racist.

Yes, they might.

I usually like your posts on here but this one is really coming off as transphobic and frankly makes me really sad to read.

I really did try to avoid making it sound that way, because that was not my intention. I apologize to anyone who was offended by how I worded that post.




Talia Madison - Velvet Sky


NermalOct 3, 10:53 PMIf they do that it probably wouldn't work with iTMS purchased tracks.

Indeed, there would need to be a "helper" that checks to see where the track came from, and redirects it to DoubleTwist if necessary.

I'm interested in seeing where this all goes, it'll hopefully silence the complaints of the lack of an NZ iTMS.




Velvet Sky showing huge


MacVaultSep 12, 07:25 AMI can't imagine why Apple would have an event like this if there was going to be only Disney content available.




velvet sky wallpaper negative


singhjeet29Apr 29, 09:51 PMI actually really liked the slider style, I would have preferred if they darkened the non-selected items and kept the slider style.




Velvet Sky by ~AwesomeTwins on


rtdgoldfishMar 21, 01:00 AMCame home from work today to find the window on my back door busted open and my Xbox 360 gone. They left the Wii, PS2, 32" Samsung LCD TV, stereo, MacBook, a ton of DVDs, CDs, and games. Just took the 360, 2 controllers, the XBox Live camera and some games.

Called the cops, they came out, dusted for prints (didn't find anything good), tooks some pictures and wrote up a report. I still have all the reciepts for the 360 so I was able to give them the serial number and thanks to Delicous Library, I had a list of all the games that were stolen.

Funny thing out of all of this: I had a set of Monster Cables for the 360 which force the system to run in HD. Whoever took it will have a nice surprise when they get it home and find out they can't run it on their SD set. (Kinda assuming they won't have an HD TV if they are stealing a 360...)

But really now, who the heck does that?? A bunch of ********* kids I'm guessing. "Oh, lets steal the $400 Xbox instead of the $1500 TV or the laptop." What is this world coming to?? I live in a quiet neighborhood. The only thing I have ever seen a cop around here for is to break up a party down the road on New Years Eve. There are families with young children, a newlywed couple, a couple friends down the road. We all know each other, nobody has ever had a problem like this.

The cops didn't give me much hope for recovering anything and I really wasn't expecting them to. It just really ticks me off that someone can have such little respect for someone else's property. Its not even a matter of the money, my landlord has good homeowner's insurance and he is a friend of mine so I think he will file a claim for me.

Anyway, I just thought I'd post my little rant here and toss my gamertag out there. If anyone sees rtdgoldfish on Xbox Live, let them know they are a no good peice of ****** playing on a stolen system. Or if anyone knows how to track something like this, that would be great!




velvet sky yahoo


twoodccDec 10, 04:11 PMYeah, that is not good. Thermal paste perhaps?

well it could be. i didn't reapple any. and the max temp on any core has been 89 C




velvet sky times


dontmatterOct 22, 01:19 PMOf course the point is, they aren't doing these or any or things with the money. It's been accumulating steadily for nearly ten years, and is really building up quickly now. I don't think any of us "grumpy" stockholders would be complaining if Apple was doing something worthwhile with it. Dividends, BTW, are a message from a company to stockholders that they don't have to sell to realize a benefit from owning shares. They are good for improving the long term stability of the stock.

I would love for apple to use 10 billion to innovate fantastically, enter new markets, go green, and more. I don't think it's going to happen- the purpose of 10 billion in the bank for apple is having 10 billion in the bank. Apple's expertise is in taking big risks (at least large for a compnay of their size), a good number of which pay off very, very well. But people- investors, CEOs, are risk adverse, and a huge pile of cash to operate on, so big they can operate and continue to invest in risky and exciting products, mitigates their risks. For apple, a pile of money might actually be worth more than investing that money at a high rate of return.




Angelina Love and Velvet Sky


b166erMar 17, 06:00 PMit's a shame the whole "antennagate" fiasco gave the iPhone 4 such a bad rep. I've had mine since launch, and I have had roughly 5 dropped calls. 3 of which happened while I was in a moving vehicle. So it could just as easily be blamed on the network or the place I was driving through at the time.

It seems like whenever someone wants to knock the iPhone they go straight for the antenna non-issue.




Velvet Sky “Knockout Holiday” Wallpaper!


LarryCApr 9, 01:59 PMBest Buy knows who D:apple:ddy is... They know who's keeping that company afloat and relevant in todays chaotic economy.

They wouldn't do anything to jeopardize a business relationship they NEED.

Again they know who D:apple:ddy is.

You really don't think that do you. I've been to Best Buy and the apple products they sell are a tiny amount of their sales. Get real. I'm sure they care, but I'm betting that they wouldn't go out of business or even notice if Apple pulled all of their product from their stores. I'm betting that it would affect Apple though.




Into the Black Velvet Sky,


dubelsApr 12, 03:22 AMSitting pretty high up. It is going to be my first home game and playoff game. Sad since I am from the Bay Area. I watched them a lot during my undergrad at Staples Center when they played the Kings. I hope its going to be a nice experience.

Lucky you-when u sitting ?(I live in SF and have been to many playoff games)

and be sure to go here and gloat with me!

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1009685



carlgoDec 14, 01:31 PMYay, satellites. Or drones. There you go, so much cooler. Space age instead of silly towers.

How a little iPhone could transmit to hundreds of miles into space is problematical, but there is all of this alien technology...

Maybe the data centers are sat communications facilities.

Ahhh, not likely but it is fun to think about.



samiwasMar 5, 10:38 AMNow: corporate contributions are legal money laundering operations. If you follow the money, I pay for goods which go into company funds which are used to contribute to buy Republican candidates who are dedicated to passing corporate-friendly laws that make my air dirtier and my food unhealthier, and that lower my standard of living until they finally ship my job to another country. Nice racket they have going. Has anybody ever noticed that the well never dries of money to buy off our government? I just love watching them cry about regulation; very classy.

Almost took the words right out of my mouth. Anyone who doesn't realize the hypocrisy in the original statement has their head in the sand.



notjustjayMar 7, 10:07 AMWindows 98 did more for USB adoption than the limited run Apple had with its original iMac. Common sense removed floppy drives a lot more than Apple forced it with the iMac, and a lot later too.

Some of you need to open up your boundaries a little beyond what Apple does.

Perhaps. You may well be right. But the point was that Apple was the first to seriously use USB and the first to remove floppy drives -- so they get to take the credit for "being innovative", and when everyone else follows suit, whether they were actually being copycats or for whatever other reason, they get credit for "being the leader" and "everyone copies them".

Apples one true area of brilliance is their masterful art of marketing. In the finest example of typical American deceptive advertising, Apple describes their products as "magical & revolutionary".


Apple can market however they like, but if the product itself doesn't stand up to the marketing, the product will fail. Plain and simple. Apple has not been without a few failures because they were poorly designed or poorly priced products that no amount of marketing could rescue them from (the G4 Cube, for example).

I bought an iPad, not because someone told me it was "magical and revolutionary" but because I tried it out in the store and could easily see myself using it far more than the netbook that it replaced. It was well designed, highly functional, and extremely practical for what I needed to do. The price was, well, Apple, meaning it cost twice as much as a netbook, but all told it was, and continues to be, a product that suited my needs.



KashcheiJan 13, 10:43 PM1) Announces deal with movie companies for rentals through iTunes. These rentals will last the running time of the movie and cost $20.

2) :apple:TV updated so that it can stream rental movies, but only to analog tvs.

3) "There's Something in the Air" slogan turns out to be Apple branded oxygen dispenser called the iMask

4) 16GB iPhone released for original price ($599)

5) Mac mini discontinued

6) Surprise switch back to Motorola chip (G6) with immediate updates for all laptop & desktop models

7) "One More Thing" is rumored lightweight notebook (also doubles as hot plate)

8) Steve announces the date he will step down as iCEO of Apple

Before I get flamed, think about how little everyone will have to complain about the actual keynote in light of my pessimistic predictions (I don't actually think any of these things will happen).



ChrisAOct 28, 10:06 PMI don't blame Apple. The OSS community abused what they had and turned to piracy by stealing the GUI. Kudos Apple.

You CAN'T abuse a BSD license. Have you read the BSD license? It sais basically "Do what you want with this software but don't sue the University of California" You can't seal BSD because it is free for everyone.

So you can run BSD UNIX on a generic PC or a wrist watch if you want. or you can even do whet Next did: Down load it and put it on your own hardware and sell it. Then Apple bought Next and we have OSX. Next got it for free and so can you or I. Apple can put the code on the web or take it off the web. The license only says to leave the U of C alone.