Author: Allan Hoffman

Photography, Tech

Kodak and the Super 8 analog renaissance


No Comments

Kodak Super8 Camera

I made Super 8 films as a kid—a lot of Super 8 films—and so, when I heard the news about Kodak making a Super 8 camera, well, it gave me a fuzzy jolt of 1970s-era nostalgia. As it turns out, Kodak announced this camera a year ago, then never came out with an actual model you could buy. This year? They announced it again, at the CES conference, and they’ve got a website with glorious images of the camera. (more…)

Tech

5 creative Vine stop-motion videos for inspiration


No Comments

Stop-motion animation requires planning, creativity, and patience. But with the Vine app, you’re limited to six-second clips, meaning you can think in seconds — a very limited number of seconds — when producing a stop-motion video. Embrace the limits with Vine, and experiment. (That’s what the winners of the Tribeca Film Festival’s #6SECFILMS competition did.) Here are five Vine clips for inspiration. (more…)

Tech

iOS 7 and “interface churn”


No Comments

When my daughter, who is 10 (and relatively sophisticated about Apple products), saw my iPhone 5 with the new operating system on it, she thought I’d bought a new phone. That’s pretty much how I felt, too. The new operating system, iOS 7, does make it seem like you’ve got a new phone. (more…)

Miscellany

The lost art of using reference books


No Comments

snakes“Can you look it up?”

I hear that a lot, from my 7-year-old son, especially when it comes to questions about snakes.

And by “look it up,” he doesn’t mean open a book: He means talk to my phone (in the form of a Google search) or type a query into Google (and find something online, typically at Wikipedia). (more…)