Here’s a cool free Windows program called JPEGCrops that will let you batch-crop your photos while maintaining the aspect ratio.  This sure beats editing each photo one by one with Photoshop.

JPEGCrops is a Windows program, created for preparation of a batch of images for printing. It provides lossless cropping with fixed aspects using jpegtran.

The program is freeware for private use and is localized to danish, english, finnish, german, polish, portuguese, galician and japanese. Partly localized to czech, dutch, french, hungarian and italian.

via lifehacker, Download Page

Kipkay from Make shows us how to make a Scanner Camera with your flatbed scanner.  Above is a dog taken with the Scanner Camera.  Kind of a nifty way to make interesting images.

via make

Sources confirm that iPod Nano 4G 4GB model is official.

Initially a set of unofficial pictures clearly showed a 4GB logo on the back of the red oval-shaped iPod Nano player. The images then set the web alight with rumours because Apple has, in the UK at least, only released the player in 8GB and 16GB capacities.

However, an Apple spokeswoman has confirmed to Register Hardware that it did make a “limited number of 4GB iPod Nanos for some international markets”.

The spokeswoman couldn’t confirm which countries the 4GB model was shipped out to or how much it cost, but the device is said to have been spotted for sale by a Dutch retailer.

Apple’s 4GB 4G Nano has since been spotted for sale on a European version of retailer Dixons website, priced at €120 (£95/$170).

via reghardware

One of my closest redneck friends always used to say that FORD stood for “Fucked-Up-Rebuilt-Dodge”.

Well, here’s a FORD Caravan.

Allow us to officially introduce the Car Camel. Apparently plying the highways of Ontario, Canada, it’s a shortened minivan with a car hauler stuck to its backside. It ain’t pretty, and it probably ain’t too fast, but we have to admit that it is pretty neat… if you’re into that kind of thing. Have a look at the gallery of images below, but if any of you get the idea to make a Car Koala… please, don’t. Thanks for the tip, Zak!

via autoblog

When it comes to building your own gadgets, nothing is better than a solar powered RC Car!

Of course, it only “charges” using solar cells, but this solar movement is helped greatly by DIYs like this.

Great job!

A rc car with two solar panels strapped up top for charging power. (Sorry no images) video coming soon. This is my first Instructable so be as honest as you can be

vi instructables

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Here’s a really cool demo of an interactive projector screen or is it Multi-Touch Projector?

The basic idea is really simple: a program running on the PC will process the images viewed from the webcam, find the position of the penlight/light spot, and use this position to deternine where to place the mouse cursor on the screen. Now, if we can assume that the light spot/point is always the brightest object in the area, than the detection algorithm will be very simple: find the location of the pixel with the highest intensity level. We make use of two additional useful facts: 1. a normal pocket touchlights (or any incandescent lamp for that matter) actually emits several times more infrared light than visible light, and so works better as IR point source than a visible light source. 2. most webcam are able not only to detect visible lights (red, green and blue, etc) but they can also detect infrared (IR) lights – for example as emitted by the IR LEDs commonly found on TV/Hifi remote controls – which are invisible to the human eyes. So if we can somehow use the webcam to capture only the infrared lights from our light source and reject the surrounding visible lights, we will be ensured of a very reliable system. An additional feature of this system will be it will work if we replace the torchlight with any IR LEDs.”

via hackedgadgets

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Here’s milkscanner, a 3D scanner that gets each slice of the 3D scan with a spoon drop of milk!

Friedrich Kirschner’s Milkscanner is a clever method for scanning 3D objects using only a webcam, some milk, and a camera rig made out of LEGO.

The basic idea is this: you place an object in a container, incrementally fill the container with milk, and take a photo after each tiny fill increment. The Milkscanner software mattes out the white part of the images, resulting in a silhouette “slice” of the object for each increment in the Z dimension. Each slice gives you information about the outer perimeter of the object at that depth (assuming the object is convex).

via hackszine

Dang, check out this palm-sized DLP projector that projects really clean!

The Samsung Pocket Imager is small enough to take anywhere and can project images from a variety of sources, including computers, DVD players, video game stations and digital cameras. Utilizing DLP technology, the P400 has a native resolution of 800 x 600 SVGA. In addition to the 1,000:1 contrast ratio, the pocket imager has 150 ANSI lumens for a crisp, clear 30-40-inch diagonal image even in a well-lit office setting, and RGB, Composite-In, S-Video, audio-in (RCA L/R) rear inputs for optimal functionality.

via aving

Now, you can drive on GoogleMaps or fly on GoogleEarth.
It’s really fun, I think there’s a potential for dozens of games and money to made off these types of apps.

The first, taking advantage of Google Maps’ new ability to work with Flash applications, lets you drive a car, bus, or truck around Google Maps. It won’t bat an eye if you drive through a building or into the ocean, but Katsuomi Kobayashi, the programmer from Osaka, Japan, who wrote it, was happy to note that the software can display images at 40 frames per second vs. 20 at best for JavaScript. And it uses less CPU power, too.

via crave