Photoshop tutorial: Sony xperia lightning effect

Photoshop tutorial: Sony xperia lightning effect

In this tutorial I will show you how to make a kind of lightbeam that has the style of the xperia cellphones. I came across this tutorial once when I was browsing the net but I find it was explained rather difficult, so here we go!

Step 1: Creating the document

Open photoshop (I used cs6 but this will work with older versions). Create a new document with any size you prefer. I used a standard 1920 x 1200. 

Fill up your document with a dark grey color (I prefer #121111).

Step 2: Create your beam

Create a new layer (Layer -> New layer) and call it "Rectangle". Now go to Layer -> Smart Objects -> Convert to smart object. Now we're going to apply a blur. Go to FIlter -> Blur -> Gaussian blur and use 10 px as radius.

You're getting something in the line of this:

Step3: Apply some light

Create a new layer and call it "Light" take a soft brush and set the hardness to 0 (color = white). Now start painting some spots across your previously created beam. Do it randomly and play around with the opacity setting a little.

After this select the rectangle layer and the light layer and go to Layer -> Group layers. This will create a folder with the two layers within. Set the blending mode of this folder to "Color dodge".

Step 4: fill with colors!

Create a layer on top of the background layer and name it "Colors".. Now fill this layer with any color. Go to Layer -> layer style -> Gradient Overlay and use these settings:

Step 5:  Create some smoke effects

Add a new layer on top of the "Colors" layer and name it "Smoke". Set your for and background colors to black and white (press D). Goto Filter -> Render -> Clouds and set the radius to 20. Now set the blending mode of that layer to soft light.

With the Eraser Tool (press E) remove some of the smoke effect on the corners of your image. You should get something like this:

Step 6: some finishing touches

Go wildly with your imagination and finish your project.. I only used some pattern to create a nice effect but you can do many things.

This tutorial is inspired by: http://abduzeedo.com I'm not the rightful owner of this tutorial.

Liz Claiborne: Curve

Liz Claiborne: Curve

We all know the famous Curve by Liz Claiborne. It's fresh, green, slightly synthetic, but most of all very very cheap.

Because it's dirt cheap, it's very popular. Every boy has had a bottle of the green stuff when they were a teenager. The invigorating smell brings back memories of the good old days. Though this is only the case for American people.

Where I live (Belgium) this stuff is very hard to come by. I got my bottle of Curve from T.J. Maxx when I visited NYC. It cost me around 16$ for a 75ml, so I didn't think twice before grabbing a bottle.

The fragrance itself is fresh, green and clean. In the opening it has the same vibe Abercrombie’s Fierce. The pineapple and lemon have a very energetic feeling and stay during the whole life of the fragrance. This means that Curve is very linear which a bad thing isn’t because the opening is the best part of this fragrance.

Is this a masterpiece? No!

Is this something that true collectors that are looking for something unique? Hello no!

Doe this smell bring back memories and make you feel fresh and clean during a hot summer day? Yes!

For the price you can't go wrong with this one and that's what counts for most people that aren't into fragrances as much. 

Rating (max. 5 points)

Longevity: Around 6 hours (3/5) 

Projection: Average projection. (3/5)

Compliments: Almost everyone likes the smell (4/5)

Overall smell: Good but nothing mind blowing (3/5)

League of Legends: Maokai jungle

League of Legends: Maokai jungle

Here's a video of my first ranked game with Maokai.! Hope you'll enjoy it...

Build:

Items to start with:

Then:

If the team uses a lot of physical damage go for the ninja tabi, otherwise go for mercury's:

 OR 

Next:

 

After a while get:

 

Finally :

 

For a better look at the runes and masteries check out this link: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/maokai-jungling-with-the-tree-186254

Flight Attendant Steals iPad From Passenger And Gets Caught By Amazing App!

Last week a passenger flying on Horizon Air, which is owned by Alaska Airlines, lost his Ipad during a flight. The passenger’s Ipad was equipped with an app called “Find my Ipad”. Witch this app you can track down your Ipad everywhere in the world, display messages to the finder of the device and even lock it with a passcode.

The Ipad’s owner was able to track it to an address outside of Portland , Oregon. Wendy Ronelle Dye, a flight attendant, was arrested for theft. She claimed that a passenger brought the Ipad to her and that she never used it and planned to turn it over to the airline officials. This was a lie as the police found her personal information on it.

Wendy was suspended for her actions.

THE JOEY BRA

THE JOEY BRA

A new hype has been released! Women no longer have to worry about where to put their stuff when going to parties. The Joey Bra brings the comfort all women were desperately searching for. It is not only a beautiful designed bra, it also has a pocket on each side of the bra, just beneath the armpits, where women can keep their cell phone, camera, keys, … Now they are no longer obligated of always having their purse with them, they can easily use the Joey Bra and are thereby free to dance as much as they like. It’s also said that after a while you are so used to it, you no longer even notice having something underneath your arm. The Bra also comes in very handy when going for a run. Mp3-players, for example, fit into the pocket perfectly, as you can see on the picture below.

The Bra was invented by two students of the university of Washington. They held a survey where they asked women about their party habits. Their conclusion was that approximately 95 percent of the respondents had a problem with storing their stuff when going to a party and 88 percent of those women were very interested in having a subtle pocket on the side of their bra for keeping their personal items.

Thereby, they invented the first bra for women who like to party without carrying a heavy handbag with them. And now you’re probably wondering what this handy thing may cost. Well as I may say it, the designers were very generous when putting up a price tag, as you can already buy one for 30 dollars.

Thousands of pounds of pot found floating off Calif. Coast

According to reports Harbol patrol officers  found nearly 8000 pounds of marijuana floating off the coast of Orange County. The marijuana was packed in bales and was worth around $3.6 million. The event was spotted on Sunday May 20, 2012 and was reported by a boater, who saw them floating around 15 miles offshore,  to the maritime law enforcement .

All 160 bales were floating in the water off the coast of Orange County, near Dana Point and the weight totaled 7,263 pounds. Three harbor patrol boats and a coast guard cutter were needed to retrieve the floating marijuana from the water.

Border patrol agent supervisor Michael Jimenez said: "At other events, they've dumped the bales to get rid of weight if they're being chased," he said. "Generally in these cases we're aware they're being dumped. What's more unusual is that the bales were floating with no boat in sight."

No vessel or suspects have been identified .

 

Twitter Agrees to ”Do Not Track Privacy” Option

Article first published as Twitter Agrees to †Do Not Track Privacy†Option on Technorati.

               Twitter Agrees to ”Do Not Track Privacy” Option

Most websites often collect information about their visitors. Some of these sites are very respectable, like Facebook. This collected data is used for advertising.

Now twitter wants to make a difference. Thursday the company announced that it was joining Mozilla, the maker of the Firefox web browser, and giving their users the ability to opt-out of being tracked by twitter by enabling the “Do not track” feature on the Firefox web browser.  This function allows people to prevent cookies from collecting personal data — but it will only work if a site agrees to acknowledge it.

Carolyn Penner, a spokeswoman for Twitter, said: “As the Federal Trade Commission’s CTO, Ed Felten, mentioned this morning, Twitter now supports Do Not Track. We applaud the FTC’s leadership on Do Not Track, and are excited to provide the benefits of Do Not Track.”

Recently Facebook started allowing people to see what personal data was being collected, but the function to disable these tracking cookies is still unavailable.

Mozilla shared new statistics for the Do Not Track add-on and congratulated Twitter for its actions.

Mozilla said: “We’re excited that Twitter now supports Do Not Track and global user adoption rates continue to increase, which signifies a big step forward for Do Not Track and the Web”.

Lanvin L’homme sport: Review

Lanvin L’homme sport: Review

Lanvin L’homme sport is an interesting fragrance. When I see the word “sport” in a fragrance name I immediately relate it to the words: fresh, acquatic, boring. The first time I saw this bottle it was lying in a bargain bin for around 20 dollar for a 3.4 oz. Curious as I was I bought one and took it home.

The initial spray was not that interesting. I immediately got a burst of citrus. It smelled clean, fresh and pretty dull, a typical “sport” fragrance. Don’t get me wrong it smelled nice, but nothing more.

After wearing it for a good 2-3 hours I smelled my wrists again and there I was pleasantly surprised. The fresh dullness disappeared and a strange smell came to the front. First I wasn’t really sure what it was but I knew I had smelled it before. After looking up some notes I saw that the strange vibe of the fragrance was due to the oak moss. Although it being strange, it gives a nice twist to the whole fragrance and makes the dullness disappear immediately.

Longevity and projection are pretty average. I get around 6-7 hours longevity. When the fragrance is nearing the end of its life it stays pretty close to the skin but still detectable for people to notice around you.

All by all this fragrance is pretty decent and will make a nice casual day time scent. For people who are into fragrances and have smelled a lot this will be nothing ground breaking but nobody can disagree that this is some quality juice.

Guild wars 2: Bringing PvP to the next level

Article first published as Guild Wars 2: Bringing PvP to the Next Level on Technorati.

Guild wars 2: Bringing PvP to the next level

In almost every MMORPG there is a PvP (Player versus player) aspect. Some publishers put a lot of effort in this aspect of the game, some don’t.

Lately there is a lot to read about the latest Guild Wars game. Although people can play open beta weekends, the game is not yet released and an official release date is yet to be announced. One thing Guild Wars 2 has to offer is a great PvP experience. The whole PvP aspect of the game consists out of two flavors: Instanced PvP and World vs. World (WvW).

The first is basically known be all of us gamers who have already played an MMORPG. You join a team of players and compete against another team in different game modes. When you join a battle, your character will be boosted to the highest level in the game (level 80). This may seem strange but that’s how players will be balanced. Also the character’s gear will be replaced with standard PvP gear. This means that the player’s skills will make a huge difference in combat.

Until now there’s only one game mode available which is: conquest. In this game mode people have to capture different points on the map. When a team takes over a control point they gain points and the first team that hits the 500 points mark wins. Pretty simple…

Now on to the second part of the PvP aspect: World vs. World. To me this is the most interesting of the two because of its originality. In this game mode your server will be competing against two other servers in a campaign course of two weeks long. This huge battle will take place in an area called “The mists”. In this area there are three different forts which are the home bases of the three different servers. There are also a number of other places which people can capture to gain points like camps, bridges, etc. .

The main goal is to capture as many camps and forts as you can. Of course there is different siege weaponry that helps destroying these buildings. This whole experience is yet unseen in other games which I think is what this game will make extra popular.

Unlike instanced PvP where all characters have the standard PvP gear, in WvW you’ll be wearing your own gear but your level will be boosted to level 80. People will be able to gain experience and loot in WvW. This will make the whole PvP experience much more attractive to all players, even the hard core PvE fans.

If you haven’t tried out WvW last weekend, make sure to check  it out. You won’t regret it!

Louboutin

LOUBOUTIN

 The color of love 

Christian Louboutin’s high heels fascinate all woman since 1991, especially for their red-lacquered soles. It’s one of thé signatures Louboutin gives to his adorable shoes, together with his personalized autograph on the inside and the length of the heels. The story behind the all known red soles dates back to the nineties when he wanted his shoes to be more eye-catching. His inspiration was a red nail polish from a customer. He polished the soles into red and in a blink of an eye a hype was born. It is a visible touch that brands Louboutin. Women can brag about them having the shoes with the red sole. It’s a way of showing of, a statement. In 2007 Louboutin has asked to protect his trademark. The discussion about this is still running.

 High heels = pleasure or pain?

 Christian Louboutin finds that beauty has its price. His heels with a minimum length of 12 centimeter confirm that thought. “If they can’t handle it, they shouldn’t wear high heels”, he claims. One fan definitely agrees, Victoria Beckham. With painful hard skin and a hernia she keeps on wearing her favorite shoes. Although he was so convinced, when years passed he also designed shoes with a lower heel height.

 Handbags

It’s long obvious that Christians shoes are very popular with the crowd but like that wasn’t still enough, he also started designing handbags and of course he had to give them his own personal touch. Therefor each handbag is foreseen with a red interior. One by one they look absolutely gorgeous!

COD:MW3 - Little montage

Here is a little montage I made about MW3. More will follow. Enjoy!

Bank Transfer Day Attracts 81,900 RSVPs on Facebook

It started as a Facebook event page on Tuesday, and now it’s grown into a national movement. Today (Nov. 5) is Bank Transfer Day (BTD), a deadline activists... Read more:http://mashable.com/2011/11/05/bank-transfer-day-on-facebook/

Uncharted 3: First impression video

Here is a nice video I found about Uncharted 3:

Will Popeye switch to “Super broccoli”?

Article first published as Will Popeye switch to “Super broccoli”? on Technorati.

As it is proven that broccoli is one of the healthiest vegetables in the World, there’s now a “super broccoli”. The new breed of the green vegetable is packed with a big nutritional punch. It has two to three times the normal amount of glucoraphanin that is found in a normal broccoli which prevents fat to clog the arteries and it reduces the amount of cholesterol in your bloodstream.

Scientists say the super broccoli tastes a little sweeter as it has les sulphur in it but the general taste should be the same.

The new vegetable was created by cross-breeding a traditional English broccoli and a bitter Sicilian variety. No genetic modification was used.
The “super broccoli” has been on sale as Beneforte in select stores in California and Texas for the last year and hit the British shelves this month.

"There's a lot of circumstantial evidence that points to (glucoraphanin and related compounds) as the most important preventive agents for (heart attacks) and certain cancers, so it's a reasonable thing to do," said Lars Ove Dragsted, a professor in the department of human nutrition at the University of Copenhagen. Glucoraphanin also makes the body stronger and removes dangerous compounds.

Although this sounds very good other scientists say that it won’t have a great impact on people’s health. Eating this “super broccoli” will not make up for smoking or eating unhealthy but it’s a step in the right direction.

Google+ To Integrate With Blogger

Google + is about to integrate with Blogger. This will be very exciting for us bloggers.
Read more about this on http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/24/google-to-integrate-with-blogger/

Google Street View Crew Hit the Swiss Alps Railways [VIDEO]

 Few would complain about this business trip: A crew from Google recently went to the Swiss Alps to film the Albula-Bernina line in Switzerland, considered one of the most scenic railway routes in the world. Read more: http://mashable.com/2011/10/20/google-street-view-crew-hit-the-swiss-alps-railways-video/

Dragon age: Origins PS capturing

I will start making youtube video's about playing games soon. Here are some tests I did with my easycap. Soon I'll be starting to play DC universe online... Hope you'll enjoy these.

Women on the Pill Pick Boring Lovers

Article first published as Women on the Pill Pick Boring Lovers on Technorati.

If your husband or longtime male partner has been providing for you nicely but your sex life is a bit dull, it may have something to do with your birth control pill.
2,500 mothers who had at least one child were asked some question about when they first met their partner and if they were on birth control that time. This study, by the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows that women who were taking a contraceptive pill when they first met their beloved partner, are more likely to stay in a relationship than women who weren’t on the pill. Though the partners of the non-pill taking women are proven to be more handsome, their relationships tend to fail more often.
This research has shown that hormonal variations over the menstrual cycle affect how women see a man as a potential mate partner. It is proven that women prefer more masculine men during ovulation than at other times. The pill neutralizes these variations, making women less interested in the sex appeal of their partners.
Another theory by Roberts claims that women who are on the pill tend to take a partner with an odor that is genetically similar to them. Women who aren’t taking the pill are more attracted to men with an odor that is genetically dissimilar to themselves.
“Women tend to find genetically dissimilar men attractive because resulting babies will be more likely to be healthy,” Roberts said in the release. “It’s part of the subconscious ‘chemistry’ of attraction between men and women.

Hackers Again hit Sony PlayStation Network Accounts

Article first published as Hackers Again hit Sony PlayStation Network Accounts on Technorati.



Today Sony said that intruders were trying to get access to their user data base again. The company locked about 93,000 accounts whose ID’s and passwords were stolen and sent those people an email with password reset directions. Credit card number are not at risk which was the case back in April.
The company doesn’t know if the hacker was working alone or with several other parties. Many people criticized Sony that their security system was to impenetrable and there was a rumor that Sony stored their user passwords in a simple text file with no encryption at all. Now Sony says that their servers weren’t intruded at all but that the user data came from other sources and then was used to log in to Sony’s service.
Sony's customer service centers claimed that they have not seen a spike in user calls related to the incidents.
Sony has only recently recovered from one of the biggest security breaches in history back in April when hackers stole the identities and credit card numbers from more than 100 million of its customers. Playstation network and other services were taken down for more than a month. Though the PlayStation Network gained almost all of their members back in a short period. Hopefully this type of security breach will never happen again.

Paleontologist Discovers "Giant Kraken Lair"

Article first published as Paleontologist Discovers "Giant Kraken Lair" on Technorati.

A kraken is a giant , octopus like, creature. It is famous for their parts in films where the kraken takes down ships and drag them into the ocean. “Pirates Of the Carribean “ is one example where the mighty kraken has been used to take down Captain Jack Sparrow. The mythical kraken might not have been around long enough to be spotted by men but it very well may have been able to feast on large dinosaurs.
Mark McMenamin believes that a real live kraken may have lived in the ocean long before humanity was born. While Mark was investigating the fossilized remains of some ichthyosaurs in the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in Nevada, he saw that the bones were rearranged in a organized way which is common behavior for octopuses.
But an octopus as we know it can’t rearrange or kill a 45-foot-log ichthyosaurs so it had to be an ancient predecessor, the mythical kraken. McMenamin said: "I think that these things were captured by the kraken and taken to the midden and the cephalopod would take them apart".Mark’s theory is that the kraken took their prey with their sucker disc arms and drowned them by taken them underwater. McMenamin’s theory will be hard to prove but he and his team of researchers are very confident in their work.